GHG Support Newsletter 8: June 2, 2022

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moderator

UNFCCC – IPCC TFI SB56 side event

On the sidelines of the SB56 sessions in Bonn, the UNFCCC secretariat and the IPCC TFI organize an in-person joint side event on The Next Generation of the IPCC Inventory Software: A Key Tool to Support the Enhanced Transparency Framework Implementation under the Paris Agreement to present the new version 2.80 of the software and the ongoing/planned work being implemented/envisaged by the IPCC TFI to refine the software in the context of decision 5/CMA.3.

The side event will take place on 8 June 2022 from 11:30 to 13:00 in Kaminzimmer at the World Convention Center Bonn.

Please see the agenda of the side event here.

MPG Provisions and the National Inventory Document

The modalities, procedures, and guidelines (MPGs)

The modalities, procedures, and guidelines (MPGs) make the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement operational, and are outlined in decisions 18/CMA.1 and 5/CMA.3. The ETF requires all Parties under the Paris Agreement, both developed and developing to submit their first biennial transparency report (BTR1) and national inventory document (NID), if submitted as a stand-alone report, in accordance with the MPGs, the latest by 31 December 2024 (SIDS and LDCs have discretion).

Therefore, the ETF requires all Parties to prepare their greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories following the guidance in the MPGs, with chapter II of decisions 18/CMA.1 containing provisions for the reporting of GHG inventories on the following aspects:

Definitions
National circumstances and institutional arrangements
Methods:
- Methodologies, parameters, and data
- Key category analysis
- Time series consistency and recalculations
- Uncertainty assessment
- Assessment of completeness
- Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC)
Metrics
Reporting guidance on information to be reported
- Information on methods and cross-cutting elements
- Sectors and gases
- Time series

These GHG inventories are to be reported in a NID, with the outline for reporting the GHG inventory information in the NID delineated in Annex V to decision 5/CMA.3 and including the following structure:

Executive summary
Chapter 1: National circumstances, institutional arrangements, and cross-cutting information
Chapter 2: Trends in greenhouse gas emissions and removals
Chapter 3: Energy (CRT sector 1)
Chapter 4: Industrial processes and products use (CRT sector 2)
Chapter 5: Agriculture (CRT sector 3)
Chapter 6: Land use, land-use change and forestry (CRT sector 4)
Chapter 7: Waste (CRT sector 5)
Chapter 8: Other (CRT sector 6) (if applicable)
Chapter 9: Indirect carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions (related to non-mandatory provisions as per para. 52 of the MPGs)
Chapter 10: Recalculations and improvements
Annexes to the national inventory document
References

The ETF dilutes the difference between the reporting requirements of developed and developing countries, and the enhanced reporting provisions under the Paris Agreement will therefore provide substantial obstacles to developing countries who have either not previously submitted a national GHG inventory, or who have submitted a national GHG inventory according to the pre-Paris Agreement reporting requirements.

This newsletter is part of a series which will dive into the key elements to consider under the NID chapters related to the MPG provisions. The first part of this series will address chapter 1 of the NID on cross-cutting information, with this newsletter analysing the MPG provisions for sections 1.4 and 1.5 of Chapter 1.

This analysis is provided in a table format, which specifies the corresponding MPG provisions to the section, highlights what is mandatory, what is voluntary, the flexibility options for the mandatory provisions, and additional detailed advice related to the section.

Section	MPG provisions	Flexibility provisions	Detailed advice
1.4 Key Category Analysis	Paragraph 25 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall identify key categories for the starting year and the latest reporting year, including and excluding land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) categories, using approach 1, for both level and trend assessment. Paragraph 41 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall describe the key categories, including information on the approach used for their identification. Paragraph 42 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall report the individual and cumulative percentage contributions from key categories, for both level and trend.	Paragraph 25 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Those developing country Parties that need flexibility in the light of their capacities with respect to this provision have the flexibility to instead identify key categories using a threshold no lower than 85 per cent, in place of the 95 per cent threshold defined in the IPCC guidelines referred to in paragraph 20 above, allowing a focus on improving fewer categories and prioritizing resources. Summary: Option to identify fewer key categories; less complex methodologies can be used to estimate GHG emissions/removals for categories that are not key.	Parties should include a section under Chapter 1 of the NID describing the methodology and the results of the key category analysis. As far as possible, key categories receive special consideration in terms of three important inventory aspects: Efficient use of resources: The identification of key categories enables the limited resources available for preparing inventories to be prioritised towards improving the quality of those categories that have the greatest contribution to the inventory magnitude, trend, and uncertainty. Methodological selection: Generally, inventory uncertainty is lower when emissions and removals are estimated using the most rigorous methods available, but this may not be feasible for all categories covered by the inventory. More detailed, higher tier methods should therefore be selected for key categories. Verification procedures: It is good practice to give additional attention to key categories with respect to quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC). Countries should present the approach followed for identifying the key categories of the GHG inventory (Approach 1 or Approach 2) for the level and trend assessment, which base, and inventory year are considered, and if the key categories were identified both including and excluding emissions and removals from Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU). Subsequently, the results of the key categories identified under the level and trend assessments should be presented. More guidance on methodological choices and identification of key categories can be found in Chapter 4, Volume 1 of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines.
1.5 Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Procedures	Paragraph 34 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall elaborate an inventory quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) plan. Paragraph 35 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall implement and provide information on general inventory QC procedures. In addition, Parties should apply category-specific QC procedures for key categories and for those individual categories in which significant methodological changes and/or data revisions have occurred. In addition, Parties should implement QA procedures by conducting a basic expert peer review of their inventories. Paragraph 36 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party should compare the national estimates of CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion with those obtained using the reference approach. Paragraph 46 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall report the QA/QC plan and information on QA/QC procedures already implemented or to be implemented in the future.	Paragraph 34 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Those developing country Parties that need flexibility in the light of their capacities with respect to this provision are instead encouraged to elaborate an inventory QA/QC plan in accordance with the IPCC guidelines referred to in paragraph 20 above, including information on the inventory agency responsible for implementing QA/QC. Paragraph 35 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Those developing country Parties that need flexibility in the light of their capacities with respect to this provision are instead encouraged to implement and provide information on general inventory QC procedures in accordance with its QA/QC plan and the IPCC guidelines referred to in paragraph 20 above. Summary: Encouragement to develop a QA/QC plan and provide information on general QC procedures implemented	The first chapter of the NID should present the QA/QC plan and implementation procedures of the associated Parties’ GHG inventory. QA/QC and verification activities are an integral part of the GHG inventory process to ensure the quality attributes of transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness, and accuracy are met. Verification is defined as the collection of activities and procedures conducted during the planning, development, and posterior utilisation of the GHG inventory in order to establish its reliability, and it involves the establishment and application of a QA/QC plan. The QA/QC plan should contain the following elements: Quality objectives: Ensuring that the transparency, accuracy, completeness, consistency, comparability, and improvement attributes are met throughout the GHG inventory process. Definition of roles/responsibilities for executing the QA/QC plan: Defining the specific responsibilities for implementing the QA/QC procedures and activities at a sectoral and national level. General QC procedures and category-specific QC procedures: Defining generic quality checks related to calculations, data processing, completeness, and documentation that are applicable to all inventory source and sink categories, and category-specific QC procedures directed at specific types of data used in the methods for individual source or sink categories. QA procedures: Describing the QA procedures conducted during the GHG inventory compilation such as the validation of data sources, assumptions, methodologies used to compile the inventory to assess the quality of the inventory, to determine the conformity of the procedures taken and to identify areas where improvements could be made. This can be conducted internally or externally, and at the international, national, or sectoral level. Archiving procedures: Describing the archiving processes related to the QA/QC plan such as checks to ensure that all information related to the planning, preparation and management of inventory activities are documented and archived. The outcomes of QA/QC and verification can serve as the input for the inventory improvement plan and may result in a reassessment of inventory or category uncertainty estimates and to subsequent improvements in the estimates of emissions or removals. More guidance on QA/QC and verification can be found in Chapter 6, Volume 1 of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines.

Section

MPG provisions

Flexibility provisions

Detailed advice

1.4 Key Category Analysis

Paragraph 25 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall identify key categories for the starting year and the latest reporting year, including and excluding land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) categories, using approach 1, for both level and trend assessment.

Paragraph 41 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall describe the key categories, including information on the approach used for their identification.

Paragraph 42 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall report the individual and cumulative percentage contributions from key categories, for both level and trend.

Paragraph 25 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Those developing country Parties that need flexibility in the light of their capacities with respect to this provision have the flexibility to instead identify key categories using a threshold no lower than 85 per cent, in place of the 95 per cent threshold defined in the IPCC guidelines referred to in paragraph 20 above, allowing a focus on improving fewer categories and prioritizing resources.

Summary: Option to identify fewer key categories; less complex methodologies can be used to estimate GHG emissions/removals for categories that are not key.

Parties should include a section under Chapter 1 of the NID describing the methodology and the results of the key category analysis. As far as possible, key categories receive special consideration in terms of three important inventory aspects:

Efficient use of resources: The identification of key categories enables the limited resources available for preparing inventories to be prioritised towards improving the quality of those categories that have the greatest contribution to the inventory magnitude, trend, and uncertainty.
Methodological selection: Generally, inventory uncertainty is lower when emissions and removals are estimated using the most rigorous methods available, but this may not be feasible for all categories covered by the inventory. More detailed, higher tier methods should therefore be selected for key categories.
Verification procedures: It is good practice to give additional attention to key categories with respect to quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC).

Countries should present the approach followed for identifying the key categories of the GHG inventory (Approach 1 or Approach 2) for the level and trend assessment, which base, and inventory year are considered, and if the key categories were identified both including and excluding emissions and removals from Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU). Subsequently, the results of the key categories identified under the level and trend assessments should be presented. More guidance on methodological choices and identification of key categories can be found in Chapter 4, Volume 1 of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines.

1.5 Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Procedures

Paragraph 34 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall elaborate an inventory quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) plan.

Paragraph 35 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall implement and provide information on general inventory QC procedures. In addition, Parties should apply category-specific QC procedures for key categories and for those individual categories in which significant methodological changes and/or data revisions have occurred. In addition, Parties should implement QA procedures by conducting a basic expert peer review of their inventories.

Paragraph 36 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party should compare the national estimates of CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion with those obtained using the reference approach.

Paragraph 46 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Each Party shall report the QA/QC plan and information on QA/QC procedures already implemented or to be implemented in the future.

Paragraph 34 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Those developing country Parties that need flexibility in the light of their capacities with respect to this provision are instead encouraged to elaborate an inventory QA/QC plan in accordance with the IPCC guidelines referred to in paragraph 20 above, including information on the inventory agency responsible for implementing QA/QC.

Paragraph 35 of decision 18/CMA.1 – Those developing country Parties that need flexibility in the light of their capacities with respect to this provision are instead encouraged to implement and provide information on general inventory QC procedures in accordance with its QA/QC plan and the IPCC guidelines referred to in paragraph 20 above.

Summary: Encouragement to develop a QA/QC plan and provide information on general QC procedures implemented

The first chapter of the NID should present the QA/QC plan and implementation procedures of the associated Parties’ GHG inventory. QA/QC and verification activities are an integral part of the GHG inventory process to ensure the quality attributes of transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness, and accuracy are met. Verification is defined as the collection of activities and procedures conducted during the planning, development, and posterior utilisation of the GHG inventory in order to establish its reliability, and it involves the establishment and application of a QA/QC plan. The QA/QC plan should contain the following elements:

Quality objectives: Ensuring that the transparency, accuracy, completeness, consistency, comparability, and improvement attributes are met throughout the GHG inventory process.
Definition of roles/responsibilities for executing the QA/QC plan: Defining the specific responsibilities for implementing the QA/QC procedures and activities at a sectoral and national level.
General QC procedures and category-specific QC procedures: Defining generic quality checks related to calculations, data processing, completeness, and documentation that are applicable to all inventory source and sink categories, and category-specific QC procedures directed at specific types of data used in the methods for individual source or sink categories.
QA procedures: Describing the QA procedures conducted during the GHG inventory compilation such as the validation of data sources, assumptions, methodologies used to compile the inventory to assess the quality of the inventory, to determine the conformity of the procedures taken and to identify areas where improvements could be made. This can be conducted internally or externally, and at the international, national, or sectoral level.
Archiving procedures: Describing the archiving processes related to the QA/QC plan such as checks to ensure that all information related to the planning, preparation and management of inventory activities are documented and archived.

The outcomes of QA/QC and verification can serve as the input for the inventory improvement plan and may result in a reassessment of inventory or category uncertainty estimates and to subsequent improvements in the estimates of emissions or removals. More guidance on QA/QC and verification can be found in Chapter 6, Volume 1 of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines.

If you found this information interesting, look out for the next newsletter which will be published next month and which will dive into sections 1.6 on uncertainty assessment and 1.7 on assessment of completeness of Chapter 1. In case you have any further technical questions on the elaboration of your GHG inventory, you can reach out to us in the Discussion Forum of the GHG Help Desk.