Resources for supporting the review of GHG inventories

Provision of greenhouse gas inventory information for the Conference of the Parties The foundation for the UNFCCC inventory review process is the GHG information system (GHGIS), which comprises a database and related software tools developed by the secretariat to import, quality control, process, store, analyse and facilitate the review and the publication of GHG inventory information provided by Parties.

The CGE discussed the outcomes of the hands on training workshop on GHG inventories held in China, and recommended the following to improve future GHG inventory workshops

Lead reviewers also discussed technical issues that have arisen in the review of GHG inventories, including review of a GHG inventory that is a compiled from different national inventories, and the assessment of the choice of methods used in the preparation of an inventory estimate.

In addition to the GHG inventory review activities funded from the core budget, others are supported by voluntary contributions to supplementary funds.

The investment made over the past several years has paid off in substantive improvements in greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and reporting.

Update on the hands on training workshops and the development of training materials The CGE conducted hands on training workshops on GHG inventories for the Latin America and the Caribbean region (Panama City, Panama, 25 29 October 2004) and the Asia region (Shanghai, China, 8 12 February 2005), and on V and A assessments for the Africa region (Maputo, Mozambique, 18 22 April 2005), involving 120 national experts from 78 developing countries.

If the Party concerned disagrees with the proposed adjustment(s) the expert review team should send the notification from the Party, along with the recommendation of the expert review team, in its final report to the COP MOP and the Compliance Committee, which will resolve the disagreement in accordance with the procedures and mechanisms on compliance.

The training materials on GHG inventories and V and A assessments were developed prior to the workshops and used at these training workshops.

Many countries reported that their ministries responsible for the environment, energy and agriculture conduct sector specific research on GHG inventories, vulnerability, and the ozone layer.

Record of progress and review of the pilot activity A yearly inventory could be prepared to keep track of the GHG emissions of COP and subsidiary body sessions, taking into account existing guidelines and standards for preparing GHG inventories for organizations.

Twenty four GHG inventory reviews and 18 in depth reviews of national communications are scheduled.

Meeting of inventory lead reviewers Under the UNFCCC review guidelines (FCCC CP 2002 8), expert teams are to be lead by two experts with substantial inventory review experience.

CD ROMs containing the training materials on GHG inventories, V and A assessments and mitigation assessments will be made available at SBI 23.

During this time, Parties and the secretariat have accumulated extensive experience in the reporting and review of national communications and GHG inventories.

It intends to use common information systems and management procedures for the national communications and GHG inventory review processes in an integrated and coordinated way.

In addition, two representatives of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) GHG inventory technical support unit attended the meeting as observers.

Greenhouse gases

Recognizing that Parties included in Annex I to the Convention (Annex I Parties) have accumulated extensive experience in the reporting and review of national communications and national greenhouse gas inventories,

Scope of the note This document provides information of the activities of the secretariat relating to GHG inventory reviews undertaken during the period March 2004 to July 2005 and planned for the remainder of 2005.

From 2000, when the individual reviews were first conducted under the trial period, through 2004, 171 individual experts from 78 different Parties (35 Annex I Parties and 43 non Annex I Parties) have participated in GHG review activities.

Good practice is a set of procedures intended to ensure that greenhouse gas inventories are accurate in the sense that they are systematically neither over nor underestimated as far as can be judged, and that uncertainties are reduced as far as possible.

Recommendations for improving the technical review of GHG inventories and for applying common approaches in the review by expert review teams (resulting from meetings of lead reviewers)

Estimates for Article 3, paragraphs 3 and 4, shall be clearly distinguished from anthropogenic emissions from the sources listed in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol.

In providing feedback to the activities reported by the representative of the NCSP, the group noted that valuable country experiences from stocktaking exercises and the NCSP training workshops, such as documenting procedures for preparing inventories, will be useful if shared with other Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention (non Annex I Parties).

Developing and maintaining the GHG information system

7 National GHG inventories are referred to simply as inventories in these guidelines for the sake of brevity.

6 References to greenhouse gases (GHG) in these guidelines for national systems refer to GHGs not controlled by the Montreal Protocol.

Under a rigorous certification process, the cradle to grave greenhouse gas emissions are fully offset by accredited greenhouse abatement projects.

A thorough review of the Party's GHG inventory and national inventory system will be a key element of this review, as a basis for the calculation of each Party's assigned amount under Article 3.7 (see section D below).

The most important industry in terms of emissions is cement manufacture.

Box 1. Reduction of greenhouse gases through the use of ethanol in Brazil

A need was expressed for equipment for monitoring GHG and climate.

In Australia, a programme called Greenhouse Friendly provides businesses with an opportunity to market greenhouse neutral products or services, deliver greenhouse gas abatement and give Australian consumers greater purchasing choices.

Therefore GHG emissions from this subsector will grow.

The development of software to facilitate inventory submissions by Annex I Parties, and the related restructuring and enhancement of the GHG database, were delayed.

The GHGIS is vital to producing authoritative GHG information for the COP and ensuring that the large number of annual inventories can be processed in a cost effective, timely and rigorous manner.

To be eligible for accreditation under the Greenhouse Friendly programme, abatement projects must generate permanent, verifiable greenhouse gas emission reductions, avoidances or sequestration.

Therefore, ways and means to induce behavioural changes of the participants to UNFCCC meetings, selection of the venue based on green considerations, and green travelling of the participants, are not addressed, but could be dealt with in future.

Table 1. Preliminary estimate of greenhouse gas emissions from the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties

Transport is considered a major sector that will contribute to the growth of GHG emissions.

Although this assessment is not required by the guidelines, a few Parties provided comprehensive analyses covering the major sources of GHG emissions and the action plans that integrate all the measures in a consistent way.

Instead, the land use change and forestry sector is the biggest source of emissions (more than half of total GHG emissions in 1994), mainly due to desertification.

Recognizing further the difficulties that non Annex I Parties have had in preparing their initial national communications and the need to build capacity for using the new guidelines for the preparation of national communications from non Annex I Parties, and the need to allocate adequate time to non Annex I Parties for preparing their national communications,

The big opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is actually in urbanizing the suburbs.