Greenhouse Gas Emission Accounting 2. Update including Second National Communications

Publication

Here, a more detailed analysis is made of differences between national emission estimates, including the second National Communications and global inventories such as EDGAR 2.0 and atmospheric concentration data. This follow-up report provides background information for IPCC expert meetings held on Good Practice Guidelines and Inventory Quality in 1999, and supports the review and synthesis process of national communications by the Climate Secretariat and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).

It covers the greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The report was produced at the request of the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. The quality of emission inventories became important after the adoption of legally binding assigned emission reductions for a group of six greenhouse gases in the Kyoto Protocol to the Climate Convention.

This report describes a number of ways to estimate the quality and uncertainty of national greenhouse gas emission inventories. Measuring concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can be concluded to be not the only independent method for verifying inventories since measurements and atmospheric models also contain errors and uncertainties. Comparisons with semi-independent inventories on national, regional and global scales can provide more insight into the quality of the inventories. Analysis showed that national inventories from industrialised countries, as reported in the National Communications, are not transparent. Compliance to the Kyoto Protocol cannot be reviewed on the basis of this information alone.

Recommendations provide for a more detailed standard format for reporting national inventories.A review for the Kyoto Protocol can thus be made on the basis of similar information from all industrialised countries. Precise and complete information on emissions from non-Annex-I countries is still missing. A lack of statistics on long-term trends and a lack of country-specific emission factors make national inventories from these countries incomplete and inaccurate, especially for agriculture, forestry and land-use change. Energy statistics could also be much improved.

Authors

Amstel AR van , Kroeze C , Janssen LHJM , Olivier JGJ

Specifications

Publication title
Greenhouse Gas Emission Accounting 2. Update including Second National Communications
Publication date
19 November 1999
Publication type
Publication
Publication language
English
Product number
90482