To estimate household emissions from a consumption-perspective, national accounts are typically disaggregated to a sub-national level using household expenditure data. While limitations around using expenditure data are frequently discussed, differences in emission estimates generated from seemingly comparable expenditure microdata are not well-known. We compare UK neighbourhood greenhouse gas emission estimates derived from three such microdatasets: the Output Area Classification, the Living Costs and Food Survey, and a dataset produced by the credit reference agency TransUnion. Findings indicate moderate similarity between emission estimates from all datasets, even at detailed product and spatial levels; importantly, similarity increases for higher-emission products. Nevertheless, levels of similarity vary by products and geographies, highlighting the impact microdata selection can have on emission estimates. We focus our discussion on how uncertainty from microdata selection can be reduced in other UK and international contexts by selecting data based on the data generation process, the level of disaggregation needed, physical unit availability and research implications.

为了从消费角度估算家庭排放量，国民账户通常使用家庭支出数据分解到次国家层面。尽管经常讨论使用支出数据的局限性，但从看似可比的支出微观数据得出的排放估算差异并不为人所知。我们比较了来自三个此类微观数据集的英国社区温室气体排放估算：输出区域分类、生活成本和食品调查以及信用咨询机构 TransUnion 生成的数据集。研究结果表明，所有数据集的排放估算之间存在一定的相似性，即使在详细的产品和空间层面也是如此；重要的是，高排放产品的相似性会增加。然而，相似程度因产品和地区而异，强调微观数据选择对排放估算的影响。我们的讨论重点是如何通过根据数据生成过程、所需的分解水平、物理单元可用性和研究意义来选择数据，从而在其他英国和国际背景下减少微观数据选择的不确定性。