Particulate black or elemental carbon (EC) (black carbon [BC]) and organic carbon (OC) affect climate, visibility, and human health. Several "top-down" and "bottom-up" global emission inventories for these components have compiled country-wide emission factors, source profiles, and activity levels that do not necessarily reflect local conditions. Recent estimates of global BC and OC emissions range from 8 to 24 and 33 to 62 Tg (1012 g) per year, respectively. U.S. BC emissions account for 5.6% of the global total emissions. Uncertainties in global BC emission estimates are a factor of 2 or more. The U.S. National Emissions Inventory is well documented, but its major source categories are not easily related to EC- and OC-emitting source subcategories. California's bottom-up emission inventory is easily accessible at many levels of detail and provides an example of how sources can be regrouped for speciated emission rates. PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters < 2.5 microm) emissions from these categories are associated with EC and OC source profiles to generate California's speciated emissions. A BC inventory for California of 38,731 t/yr was comparable to the 33,281 t/yr estimated from a bottom-up global BC inventory. However, further examination showed substantial differences among subcategories, with the global inventory BC from fossil fuel combustion at two-thirds that from the California inventory and the remainder attributed to biomass burning. Major discrepancies were found for directly emitted OC, with the global inventory estimating more than twice that of the California inventory. Most of the discrepancy was due to differences in open biomass burning (wildfires and agricultural waste) for which carbon emissions are highly variable. BC and OC emissions are sensitive to the availability and variability of existing source profiles, and profiles more specific to fuels and operating conditions are needed to increase emission accuracy.