CGE Training Materials
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
National Arrangements
Version 2, April 2012
Consultative Group of Experts (CGE)
Training Materials for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Target Audience and Objective of the Training Materials
 These training materials are suitable for people with beginner to intermediate level
knowledge of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory development.
 After having read this presentation, in combination with the related documentation, the
reader should:
 Have an overview of how important national arrangements are for the regular
development of GHG inventories
 Have a general understanding of the methods and tools available, as well as of the
main challenges in that particular area
 Be able to determine which approach to follow in order to suit their country’s
situation best
 Know where to find more detailed information on this topic.
 These training materials are developed primarily on the basis of documents
developed by the US-EPA; hence the reader is always encouraged to refer to the
original documents to obtain further detailed information on a particular issue.
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Training Materials for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
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Acronyms
 COP
Conference of the Parties
 GPG
Good Practice Guidance
 NGO
Non-Governmental Organization
 QA/QC
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
 SBI
Subsidiary Body for Implementation
 SBSTA
Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice
 TACCC
Transparency, Accuracy, Completeness, Comparability, Consistency
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Training Materials for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
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National Arrangements - Goals
 Ensure that the inventory process is based on relevant COP decisions:
 Decision 17/CP.8 on the guidelines for non-Annex I Party national communications
 Other relevant COP decisions and SBSTA/SBI conclusions.
 Ensure that nationally appropriate procedures for collecting, processing,
communicating and archiving inventory data and information are in place.
 Ensure coordination among all relevant government departments, national agencies,
academia, research community and other stakeholders.
 Ensure the quality of the inventory data.
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What is Quality?
 National GHG inventories must produce emission/removal data which are neither far over
nor below real values as far as can be judged according to the available data and
information.
 National GHG inventories must be prepared in accordance with the TACCC principles:
 Transparency
 Accuracy
 Completeness
 Comparability
 Consistency.
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TACCC Principles
 Transparency:
 Assumptions and methodologies are clearly explained and documented to facilitate
replication and assessment
 If you do not provide documentation, there is no way to demonstrate that any of the
other principles has been met.
 Accuracy:
 Relative measure of the exactness of emission/removal estimates
 Estimates must be systematically neither over nor under true emissions/removals, as
far as can be judged according to the available data and information
 Uncertainties must be reduced as far as practicable
 Appropriate methodologies must be used, in accordance with IPCC guidelines.
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TACCC Principles
 Consistency:
 Inventory internally consistent in all its elements with inventories from previous years;
 Same methodologies for the base year and all subsequent years
 Consistent data sets to estimate emissions and removals from sources/sinks.
 Comparability:
 Estimates must be comparable among Parties
 Methodologies and formats as agreed by COPs
 Allocation of source/sink categories, according to the Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines.
 Completeness:
 All sources/sinks and gases included in the IPCC Guidelines
 Other existing specific source/sink categories
 Full geographic coverage of sources/sinks of a Party.
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What are National Arrangements for?
 Help each Party meet reporting requirements by ensuring that the GHG inventory is
prepared in accordance with the relevant COP decisions (e.g., 17/CP.8).
 To ensure continuity through the development of national capacities and capabilities
 To ensure the sustainability of the GHG preparation process:
 Will also help with the regular preparation of biannual reports in accordance with
relevant decisions under the UNFCCC process.
 To inform international, national and local policy making.
 To foster consistent estimation approaches across government agencies and offices.
 To coordinate responses to requests for information.
 To ensure high quality and objective inventory information.
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Who cares?
 A wide audience of stakeholders...
 Decision makers and policy advisors
 International climate change community
 Provincial and local agencies
 The public and interest groups (e.g., NGOs)
 Businesses
 Scientists.
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National Government
 What are the main drivers of emissions and removals?
 What are the uncertainties and reliability of the GHG estimates?
 What are the past trends of emissions and removals (nationally and from individual
activities)?
 What are the effects of existing or planned policies and measures (including policies that
may aggravate emissions)?
 Is there consensus among government agencies and key stakeholders on our emission
estimates?
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Other Stakeholders
 International community:
 Are your GHG estimates credible and transparent?
 Does your GHG inventory fulfil the reporting requirements of the UNFCCC?
 Businesses and NGOs:
 How to quantify and get credit for activities that reduce emissions or sequester
carbon?
 What activities, industries, companies or policies have been responsible for
significant increases or decreases in GHG emissions or removals?
 Scientists:
 Where does our country lack information to support political decisions?
 What are the priorities for research and measurement?
 What are the scientific uncertainties in the emission and sink estimates?
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Inventory Management System
 Three key stages:
 Planning
 Preparation (e.g., data collection and GHG estimation)
 Management (cross-cutting issues, reporting, documenting, archiving).
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Inventory Planning
 Identify all institutions to be involved:
 Appoint national inventory agency
 Allocate responsibilities for inventory preparation and management
 Define formal approval process within government.
 Develop schedule:
 Timeframe and specific milestones
 Make arrangements to collect data from statistical agencies, companies, industry
associations, etc.
 Create QA/QC plan.
 Integrate continuous improvement.
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GHG Inventory Agency: Responsibilities
 A single national entity to be responsible for the overall inventory, to:
 Arrange with collaborating entities that contribute data, research, estimate
emissions or provide expert reviews
 Act as the legal authority to collect and disseminate data necessary for the
preparation of the inventory
 Ensure inventory processes are in compliance with COP decisions
 Define and apply procedures for collecting data, preparing inventory,
communicating results, submitting report and archiving
 Liaise among government departments, national agencies
 Ensure the implementation of QA/QC.
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GHG Inventory Preparation
 Identify key categories and significant subcategories (see IPCC good practice guidance (2000)
chapter 7 and IPCC good practice guidance (2003) chapter 5).
 Select methods and emission factors (GPG decision trees at sector category level).
 Collect activity data (both statistical and parametric).
 Manage recalculations (if needed) (see IPCC good practice guidance (2000) chapter 7 and IPCC
good practice guidance (2003) chapter 5).
 Implement QA/QC plan: (see IPCC good practice guidance (2000) chapter 8 and IPCC good
practice guidance (2003) chapter 5)
 Basic checks should be completed on entire inventory (Tier 1)
 More in-depth investigations into key categories (Tier 2).
 Documentation.
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GHG Inventory Management
 Implement inventory review processes (e.g., expert review, public review)
 Obtain formal approval of final results and report within government
 Submission of report to UNFCCC
 Make inventory information available to stakeholders and respond to information
requests
 Archive all documentation and results
 Continuous improvement feedback.
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Examples of National Arrangements
 National arrangements should be tailored to the country's circumstances.
 Examples of existing arrangements:
 Brazil
 Republic of Korea
 India
 Philippines.
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Brazil’s Second National Communication
 Overall coordinating responsibility: Ministry of Science and Technology
 The General Coordination on Global Climate Change was created, within the
structure of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), in August 1994.
 Contribution from: 600 institutions and 1,200 experts including:
 Ministry of Environment; Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply; Ministry
of Mines and Energy; Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade - MIDIC,
etc.
 Federal institutions and state institutions
 Trade associations, NGOs, universities and research centres.
 QA/QC Procedures:
 Verification of adequacy of the methodology
 Transparent background reports
 Review by experts not involved in inventory development
 Public consultation through MST's website (Apr-Sep 2010).
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Republic of Korea’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Centre
 To act as a GHG inventory hub and greenhouse gas mitigation research think tank.
 The Centre aims to operate a top tier GHG information centre.
 Ensure statistical reliability and objectivity by establishing a comprehensive national GHG
inventory system:
 Operate a national GHG inventory management council to review and finalize national
statistics and emission factors
 Publish “National Greenhouse Gas Measurement/Reporting/Verification Guidelines”, and
“National and Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emission Factor Development/Verification
Guidelines”
 Verify and announce country- and facility-specific emission factors
 Prepare a mid- to long-term country-specific emission factors development plan.
 Prepare a national inventory report (NIR):
 Collect and verify sectoral greenhouse gas statistics (every June), then present NIR
(every December).
 Establish a national GHG statistics database for the systematic management of national and
corporate GHG emission factors and national statistics.
 Establish a global cooperation system.
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Training Materials for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
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Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment
 Launched on 14 October 2009,
comprising 127 institutions and 228
scientists across India with the role to:
 Assess the drivers and implications
of climate change through scientific
research
 Prepare climate change
assessments once every two years
(GHG estimations and impacts of
climate change, associated
vulnerabilities and adaptation)
 Develop decision support systems
 Build capacity towards
management of climate change
related risks and opportunities.
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The Philippines
 The Philippine’s Inter-Agency Committee on Climate Change (IACCC) was tasked with
oversight and coordination of the national communication process.
 Preparation of the GHG inventory by the Manila Observatory, in close coordination with
public and private institutions, with a view to ensuring the sustainability of this initiative:
 A small team gathered the information needed to compile GHG emissions
 Activity data were collected from a number of government agencies and the private
sector
 International databases such as those of the FAO were also used
 Default values were used in the absence of local data. Locally sourced information
was available mainly from the LULUCF, agriculture and waste sectors.
 During the process of data collection and analysis (which took about a year), focus group
meetings (on a sectoral basis) were continually held among the agencies concerned.
 Training workshops were organized.
 As a means to ensure the sustainability of this activity, a national inventory report that also
served as a training manual was written by the Observatory team to enable agencies to
conduct a similar exercise on their own.
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US-EPA Templates
 US-EPA – Template Workbook for Developing a National GHG Inventory System
 http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ghginventorycapacitybuilding/templates.html
 STEP 1: Identify current inventory management team
 STEP 2: Provide sectoral roles and arrangements
 STEP 3: Provide improvements to institutional arrangements
 STEP 4: Review and complete inventory cycle timeline
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Designated GHG Inventory Agency
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National Inventory Management Team
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Sectoral Institutional Arrangements
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Potential Improvements in the Management Structure of the National
Inventory System
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Closing Remarks
 A GHG inventory is more than just a part of a national communication.
 It should be viewed as a broader analytical programme.
 A ‘cookbook’ approach to developing a GHG inventory is not practical:
 There will always be a large and essential need for expert judgment at all levels of the
process.
 A well constructed inventory should include enough documentation to allow readers to
understand the underlying assumptions and calculations.
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Reference
 US-EPA – Template Workbook for Developing a National GHG Inventory System
 http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ghginventorycapacitybuilding/templates.html
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Thank you
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