Distr.

LIMITED

FCCC/SBSTA/1999/L.14

30 October 1999

Original: ENGLISH

SUBSIDIARY BODY FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVICE

Eleventh session

Bonn, 25 October - 5 November 1999

Agenda item 9 (b)

• The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) recalled

decision 8/CP.4, which requested that guidelines under Articles 5, 7 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol be prepared. It also recalled the conclusion of its tenth session that the secretariat should organize a workshop on national systems and issues relating to adjustments, referred to in

Article 5 of the Kyoto Protocol, before its twelfth session (FCCC/SBSTA/1999/6, para. 34 (d)). It requested the secretariat to include in the agenda of the workshop the consideration of the methodological and technical aspects of guidelines related to Articles 7 and 8 of the

Kyoto Protocol and consult with Parties on the agenda of this workshop.

2. The SBSTA requested that any compliance-related aspects of the Article 8 review process be taken up by the joint working group on compliance, as appropriate.

3. The SBSTA requested the secretariat to prepare documentation for consideration at the

above-mentioned workshop on the following topics:

• The experience of Annex I Parties with existing national systems

for preparing greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories;

• An initial draft of guidelines for national systems under Article 5.1 of the

Kyoto Protocol; and

(c) Preliminary options for methodologies to apply adjustments.

BNJ.99-542

• The SBSTA also requested the secretariat to provide a report on the workshop, a

second draft of the guidelines under Article 5.1, an initial draft on modalities for adjustments under Article 5.2 and possible elements for inclusion in the guidelines under Articles 7 and 8, taking into consideration information from the workshop, for consideration by the SBSTA at its twelfth session.

• To assist the secretariat to complete the tasks defined in paragraphs 3 and 4 above, the SBSTA invited Parties to submit initial views on supplementary information pursuant to

Article 7 and methodological and technical aspects related to this article, as well as on Article 8, particularly on the relationship between the review process and the compliance procedure,

by 1 February 2000. The SBSTA requested Parties to submit further views on approaches for considering adjustments referred to in Article 5.2 of the Kyoto Protocol and any methodologies for their application, by 1 February 2000.

• The SBSTA invited Parties to submit additional views on issues referred to in

paragraph 4 above, in the light of the outcome of the workshop mentioned in paragraph 1 above, by 15 April 2000. It requested the secretariat to compile these views into a miscellaneous document.

7. The SBSTA took note of the information provided by Parties related to Article 5 of the Kyoto Protocol. It agreed to consider the basic elements of national systems listed in the annex to these draft conclusions as a basis for further work.

8. The SBSTA took note of the information provided by a representative of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on its ongoing work related to good practice in national inventory preparation, including managing uncertainty. It also noted that the application of good practices in the use of the IPCC 1996 Revised Guidelines may improve the quality of national GHG inventories and that some elements of good practices may also be considered for the preparation of guidelines under Articles 5, 7 and 8 of the Protocol. The SBSTA noted that a report on these issues will be provided by the IPCC for consideration at its twelfth session.

9. The SBSTA recalled Article 5.2 of the Kyoto Protocol and took note of submissions

by Parties on the issue of adjustments. It considered that adjustments referred to in this Article should only be applied when inventory data submitted by Parties are incomplete and/or are calculated in a way that is not consistent with the IPCC 1996 Revised Guidelines by any good practice agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties (COP). It noted that these adjustments would result in substitution of a revised technical estimate for the purpose of accounting of the Parties' emissions and assigned amounts. It also considered that adjustments related to

Article 5.2 could be an element of the review process under Article 8 of the Kyoto Protocol. The methodologies and procedures of adjustments, including the question of who should apply these adjustments, should be further examined in the preparatory work related to Articles 5 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol.

10. The SBSTA reaffirmed its request to the secretariat to organize, subject to the

availability of funds, a second workshop on issues related to Articles 5, 7 and 8 of the

Kyoto Protocol, including linkages to other provisions of the Protocol, prior to the thirteenth session of the SBSTA.

11. The SBSTA encouraged Parties included in Annex I to the Convention to support the efforts of those Annex I Parties undergoing the process of transition to a market economy to develop and consolidate their national systems through appropriate bilateral or multilateral mechanisms.

OBJECTIVE

To enable Parties to estimate anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, as required by Article 5.1 of the Kyoto Protocol.

CHARACTERISTICS

National systems should cover all institutional arrangements and procedures within a Party for inventory development allowing for flexible adaptation to national circumstances because of the existing differences in institutional structure and organization, as well as in approaches in inventory development between Parties.

FUNCTIONS

National systems:

• •Ensure that the national inventory process, including inventory planning, development and management, is in accordance with any decisions by the COP;
• •Define and apply appropriate procedures for collecting, processing, communicating and storing inventory data;
• •Provide for liaison between government departments, national agencies and other entities responsible for inventories;
• •Enable the provision of greenhouse gas inventory data annually;
• •Ensure confidence in the quality of inventory data by implementing, uncertainty assessment, quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures including verification and/or auditing procedures of the inventory data at the national level; and
• •Facilitate the technical review process agreed upon by the COP/MOP under Article 8.
  
  

REQUIRED ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL SYSTEMS

The national systems should be robust enough to support compliance with the Protocol

and therefore common elements need to be defined. These should or could include:

Institutional arrangements:

• •A single national entity responsible for the overall inventory;
• •Collaborating entities which contribute to the preparation and/or management of the inventory;
• •Arrangements for technical competence and its evolution; and
• •Authority to ensure collection and dissemination of all necessary data for the preparation of the inventory.
  
  

Inventory processes:

• •Inventory planning: a documented plan for the development, preparation and management of inventories, including a plan for QA/QC procedures;
• •Inventory development: identification of GHG sources including the significance of the sources; procedures for choice of methodology and emission factors, activity data collection, management of uncertainties;
• •Inventory preparation: data collection (frequency, procedures), estimation of procedures (good practice), documentation of data, sources and methodologies; QA/QC procedures; and
• •Inventory management: archiving of all data, inventory estimates and documentation; transfer and compilation of data (frequency, electronic transfer and data management).