The Conference of the Parties (COP), by its decision 19/CP.8, adopted the revised guidelines for the technical review of greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories from Parties included in Annex I to the Convention1 (Annex I Parties) to be applied from the year 2003. It also determined that the revised reporting guidelines on annual inventories adopted by decision 18/CP.8 should be used for the inventory beginning in 2004. The COP, by its decision 13/CP.9, completed the tables of the common reporting format for reporting on the Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector and decided to use these tables for a trial period covering inventory submissions due in 2005. The COP, by its decision 14/CP.11, updated the UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories2, including the revisions to the tables of the common reporting format for reporting on the LULUCF sector and decided that Annex I Parties shall use these tables for the purpose of submission of the annual inventory due in and after 2007. For the inventory submissions due in 2007, Parties used the updated UNFCCC reporting guidelines adopted by decision 14/CP.11, however some Parties continued to use the tables of the common reporting format included in decision 13/CP.9 (FCCC/SBSTA/2004/8). As part of the inventory review process, the COP, by its decision 19/CP.8, requested the secretariat to conduct an annual synthesis and assessment of GHG inventories for all Annex I Parties. The purposes of the synthesis and assessment are to facilitate the consideration of inventory data and other information across Parties, and to identify issues for further consideration during the reviews of individual inventories. The synthesis and assessment is to be prepared in two parts. Part I is to provide information to allow comparisons across Annex I Parties, as well as descriptions of common methodological issues. Part II is to provide a preliminary analysis of individual Annex I Party inventories, in particular to identify outstanding issues requiring clarification during the individual review stage of the process. In accordance with decision 19/CP.8, Part I of this synthesis and assessment report has been sent to Parties for comment prior to publication on the UNFCCC web site. Part II will be sent to the respective Party for comments and, together with the comments from the respective Party, will be provided to the corresponding expert review team as input for the individual review; Part II will not be published on the UNFCCC web site.