This paper discusses the procedures and results of constructing a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory for South Africa, using the official national energy balance for 1998. In doing so, the paper offers a snapshot of the South African energy supply and demand profile and encompassing greenhouse gas emissions profiles, disaggregated into 40 economic sectors, for the reference year. For convenience, energy supply and use are reported in both native units and terra joule (TJ), while emissions are expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents and reported in giga-gram (Gg). While carbon dioxide makes an overwhelming contribution to global anthropogenic GHG emissions, the inclusion of methane and nitrous oxide offers considerable richness to the analysis of climate change policies. Applying the energy balances, it was possible to compile a comprehensive emissions inventory using a consistent methodology across all sectors of the economy. The inventory allows the economic analyst to model various economic policies either with fuel as an input to production, or the consumption of fuel or the emissions generated during combustion, as a base of the analysis. The dominant role of coal as a source of energy, with a total primary energy supply (TPES) of 3.3 million TJ or 70 per cent of the total TPES, is clearly shown. Emissions from coal combustion (263 783 Gg of carbon dioxide equivalents or 74.7 per cent of total emissions) are henceforth the largest contributor to total emissions, estimated to be 352 932 Gg carbon dioxide equivalents.