Inventory of U.S.GHG Emissions and Sinks:
UNFCCC Reporting Requirements and IPCC Methodological Guidance
FIA User Group Meeting
San Antonio, TX—April 2, 2015
Tom Wirth
US EPA—Climate Change Division
National GHG Inventory
• Produced annually—due by April 15
• Accounts for anthropogenic GHG
emissions and removals over time:
1990
Present
• Five methodological chapters
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Energy
Industrial Processes and Product Use
Waste
Agriculture
Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry
• Six primary gases
• CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6
IPCC Guidelines and UNFCCC Reporting
for National GHG Inventories
IPCC Guidelines
Agriculture,
Forestry and Other
Land Uses
(AFOLU)
UNFCCC Reporting
LULUCF
Agriculture
Enteric Fermentation (CH4)
Manure Mgt. (CH4 and N2O)
Agric. Soil Mgt. (N2O)
Rice (CH4)
FBAR (CH4 and N2O)
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Forestland & LCF
Cropland & LCC
Grassland & LCG
Wetlands & LCW
Settlements & LCS
Other Land & LCO
Five C Pools &
Non-CO2 Gases
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(36 LU/LUC Categories)
GHG Emissions and Removals in
AFOLU
2006 IPCC Guidelines for AFOLU
Required for UNFCCC reporting in 2015
IPCC Wetlands Supplement
IPCC Tiered Methodologies
Increasing Methodological
Complexity and Accuracy
For each source/sink category methods are provided at three tier levels:
Tier 1– Designed to use readily available national or
international statistics (e.g., FAO) with default emission
factors. Any country can apply.
Tier 2– Uses similar approach as Tier 1, but with countryspecific factors or further disaggregation
Tier 3—Models, measurement or country-specific
approach
The Tier used is driven by significance of the flux and availability of data
Inventory Quality Indicators and
Good Practice Guidance
TCCCA
• Transparent
• Consistent
• Complete
• Comparable
• Accurate
Inventory
• Assessed for Uncertainties
• Subject to QA/QC
• Efficient use of resources
• Uncertainties reduced over
time
Result
• Credible
• Reliable
• Useful
AFOLU Team:
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Agriculture and LULUCF
• Census of Agriculture
• NASS
• FIA
• NRI
• NLCD
• APHIS
• MODIS
• CTIC
• Ag. Waste Mg. Hnbk.
USFS
ARS
CSU
NOAA
USGS
Contractor support
Domestic and International
Review Processes
• Annual Domestic Reviews
– Expert and Public reviews
• Thirty days each
• Not formal, as with regulatory
review
• Annual UNFCCC Reviews
– Centralized in Bonn
– In-Country by multidisciplinary
team
– Annual review report developed
• Inventory team must respond to
issues identified in the report
Technical Assessment of IPCC
Guidelines
• Identify new emission sources, improvements to the methods and
default emission factors
• Survey sent out to inventory experts asking for input
• Expert meetings to evaluate survey results
– AFOLU meeting in July 2015—Sao Paulo, Brazil
• US AFOLU “Dream” Team
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Chris Woodall/USFS: Forest Lands
Stephen Ogle/CSU: Croplands & Grasslands
Steve Del Grosso/ARS: Soil N2O
Lisamarie Wyndham-Myers/USGS: Wetlands
Jim Fourqurean/FIU: Coastal Wetlands
Jake Beaulieu/EPA: Reservoir CH4
April Leytem/ARS: Manure CH4 and N2O
Ermias Kebreab/UC Davis: Enteric CH4
IPCC Guidance on Land Representation
• Complete representation of the land base,
categorized into 6 IPCC LUCs
• Separate into managed and unmanaged
land
• Apply managed land definition
• Under IPCC Guidance “managed” land
is a proxy for anthropogenic emissions
• Identify the land use conversions between
lands
• Lands remain in conversion category
for 20 years
• For all 36 LU/LUC categories estimate C
stock changes by pool:
• Above/below-ground biomass
• Dead wood and litter
• Soil organic matter
• Non-CO2 emissions
US Managed Land
Base
(1,000s ha’s)
• Includes all 50 states
• Excludes US Territories
• NRI data only goes
through 2007
• C stock changes not
estimated for entire
managed land base:
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Interior AK
HI
Federal Grasslands
Wetlands
U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks
by Sector: 1990-2013
• Emissions grew 4.7% from 1990-2012
• Downward trend since 2007
• CO2 (83%), CH4 (9%), N2O (6%) and HFCs,
PFCs and SF6 (2%)
2013 AFOLU Emissions and Removals
2013 AFOLU Emissions
Forest Fires
CH4/N2O,
Peatlands 9.6
Manure
CO2, 0.8
CH4/N2O,
Urea CO2,
78.7
4
LFYTFS, 12.8
GRG CO2,
12.1
Enteric CH4,
164.5
Soil N2O (All
Lands),
265.8
(MMT CO2 eq.)
HWP, 70.8
SRS/Urban
Trees, 89.5
LCG, 8.8
LCC CO2,
16.1
CRC, 23.4
FLRFL, 704.9
Liming CO2,
5.9
Rice CH4,
8.3
Enteric CH4
LCC CO2
Liming CO2
FBAR CH4/N2O
Rice CH4
Soil N2O (All Lands)
Urea CO2
Peatlands CO2
Forest Fires CH4/N2O
Manure CH4/N2O
GRG CO2
2013 AFOLU Removals
(MMT CO2 eq.)
FBAR
CH4/N2O,
0.4
FLRFL
CRC
LCG
SRS/Urban Trees
LFYTFS
HWP
Final Points
• US Inventory is one of the best in the world
– In large part due to programs such as FIA and NRI
• Because it’s used to make/demonstrate compliance for our
int’l commitments, it’s important to make it even better
• Improvements must be in line with the IPCC and UNFCCC
guidance
• Significant improvements are underway
– Improved LU/LUC tracking and associated GHG fluxes
– Decreased the latency in the reporting
– Account for forest C stock changes in interior AK
• There is huge potential to improve by taking advantage of
the data/technical that already exists
To download a copy of the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas
Emissions and Sinks 1990-2013 at:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/usinventoryreport.html
Thanks for listening!
Tom Wirth
US EPA
Climate Change Division
(202) 343-9313
Wirth.tom@epa.gov