This paper presents the 2005 global inventory of anthropogenic emissions to the atmosphere component of the work that was prepared by UNEP and AMAP as a contribution to the UNEP report Global Atmospheric Mercury Assessment: Sources, Emissions and Transport (UNEP Chemicals Branch, 2008). It describes the methodology applied to compile emissions data on the two main components of the inventory – the ‘by-product’ emissions and the ‘intentional use’ emissions – and to geospatially distribute these emissions estimates to produce a gridded dataset for use by modelers, and the results of this work. It also presents some initial results of work to develop (simplified) scenario emissions inventories for 2020 that can be used to investigate the possible implications of actions to reduce mercury emissions at the global scale.