GHG Help Desk is a communication platform that allows GHG inventory experts facing technical challenges to post their questions and receive answers within one working day.
Registrationis required and free to be able to participate in the online discussion forum. If you are interested, please contact us at GHGCapacityBuilding@unfccc.int
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Asia-Pacific)
10 to 14 March 2025
In-country quality assurance (Africa)
24 to 27 February 2025
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Asia-Pacific)
11 to 14 February 2025
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Africa)
27 to 31 January 2025
Workshop on the Building of Sustainable National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Management Systems and the Use of the IPCC Inventory Software to Support the Implementation of the Enhanced Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement for the African Region
2 to 5 December 2024
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Africa)
24 to 27 November 2024
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Africa)
13 November 2024
15:00h - 16:30h AZT/UTC+4 - Special Event Room - Shirvan, Area B
COP28 Side event jointly organized by the UNFCCC secretariat, the IPCC TFI TSU (GHG Inventory Software), GHG Management Institute (SAGE) and Gauss International (MITICA).
20 to 24 November 2023
In-country quality assurance (LAC)
26 to 29 September 2023
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (LAC)
11 to 15 September 2023
In-country quality assurance (Asia)
28 to 31 August 2023
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Africa)
14 to 18 August 2023
In-country quality assurance (Africa)
24 to 28 July 2023
In-country quality assurance (Africa)
10 to 14 July 2023
In-country quality assurance (LAC)
6 June 2023
The Latest Developments of the IPCC Inventory Software for the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Side event jointly organized by the UNFCCC secretariat and the IPCC under the banner of #Together4Transparency, where the latest version of the IPCC inventory software, including the development of the interoperability function will be presented (livestream)
22 to 25 May 2023
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (LAC)
8 to 12 May 2023
In-country quality assurance (Europe)
24 to 28 April 2023
In-country quality assurance (Asia)
17 to 20 April 2023
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (LAC)
6 to 9 March 2023
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Asia)
21 to 23 February 2023
Peer Learning Workshop on National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Management Systems and Tools (Southern Africa)
Side event jointly organized by the UNFCCC secretariat and the IPCC where the new software will be officially launched after four years of work. (see presentations for sessions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Africa)
21 to 23 September 2022
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Africa)
12 to 14 September 2022
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Africa)
7 to 9 September 2022
QA of national energy information management system and energy statistics (Africa)
1 September 2022
Webinar on the Sectoral Activity data for GHG Emissions (SAGE), a GHG data collection and management tool to support the implementation of the ETF (Latin America and the Caribbean)
31 August 2022
Webinar on the Sectoral Activity data for GHG Emissions (SAGE), a GHG data collection and management tool to support the implementation of the ETF (Africa)
29 August 2022
Webinar on the Sectoral Activity data for GHG Emissions (SAGE), a GHG data collection and management tool to support the implementation of the ETF (Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe)
Launch by the UNFCCC Secretariat of the third round of the enrolment of national experts to the e-learning and certification programme of the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute on the 2006 IPCC Guidelines
5 to 8, and 11 to 12 October 2021
Online quality assurance (LAC)
6 September 2021
Webinar on the Sectoral Activity data for GHG Emissions (SAGE), a GHG data collection and management tool to support the implementation of the ETF
30 August to 2 September 2021
Webinar on the Full Lands Integration Tool (FLINT)
28 June to 1 July, and 5 to 6 July 2021
Online quality assurance (Africa)
21 to 25 June 2021
Remote Training on the Building of Sustainable National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Management Systems, Anglophone Africa+
7 to 11 June 2021
Remote Training on the IPCC Inventory Software for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories for the Asia, Pacific and Eastern Europe Regions
23 February to 1 March 2021
Online quality assurance (Africa)
15 to 19 February 2021
Remote Training on the IPCC Inventory Software for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories for the African Region
25 January to 1 February 2021
Online quality assurance (Asia)
30 November to 7 December 2020
Online quality assurance (Asia)
25and27 November 2020
Joint IEA/UNEP/UNFCCC webinars on energy data for climate policy – enhancing energy data for an effective implementation of the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement
16–20 November 2020
Webinars on uncertainty analysis in national GHG inventories – applying the Monte Carlo simulation,organized by the UNFCCC secretariat with the collaboration of the IPCC
28 September to 5 October 2020
Online quality assurance (Africa)
1 September 2020
Launch of the second round of the enrolment of national experts to the e-learning and certification programme of the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute on the 2006 IPCC Guidelines
9 and 17 July 2020
Webinars for the African region on uncertainty analysis in national GHG inventories in developing countries
23 June and 3 July 2020
Webinars for the African region onthe building of sustainable national GHG inventory management systems (English and French)
The Mitigation-Inventory Tool for Integrated Climate Action - MITICA is available here
Vision
Providing efficient and innovative technical support on the development of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories to developing countries for an effective implementation of the measurement, reporting and verificationsystem and the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement.
The GHG Support Unit of the Transparency Division performs the following main functions aimed at assisting developing countries:
Supporting, through in-country quality assurance (QA) activities and regional training workshops, the establishment and maintenance of sustainable national GHG inventory management systems in developing countries;
Building, through regional training workshops and online training and certification programme, the technical capacity of developing countries' national experts on GHG inventory related issues;
Facilitating the submission by developing countries of high-quality national GHG inventory reports that meet the reporting requirements under the Convention and the Paris Agreement.
The GHG Support Unit is implementing many evolving capacity-building activities under a funding project entitled “Strengthening the capacity of developing countries to prepare and manage national greenhouse gas inventories as a basis for effective Enhanced Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement”. The project aims to assist developing countries to develop and maintain sustainable national GHG inventory management systems and apply the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2006 IPCC Guidelines), including in direct response to requests for assistance received from developing countries.
The GHG Support Unit organizes, upon request from developing countries, the in-country QA of their national GHG inventory management systems and the latest GHG inventories.
The QA workshops aim to improve the quality and transparency of national GHG inventories reported by developing countries through in-depth interactions with the national GHG inventory team, thus facilitating the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement.
The QA workshops take place over five days, with the most urgent resulting recommendations to be addressed before the official submission of a national GHG inventory. The comments and recommendations arising from this capacity-building exercise will also form a sound basis for the development of a national GHG inventory improvement plan (NIIP) targeting the subsequent GHG inventories, and as such be used/referred to in subsequent funding requests in order to have a sound basis for future improvement of national GHG inventories.
Since 2018 the GHG Support Unit has organized the QA of GHG inventory management systems and GHG inventories from 50 countries across all regions (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean).
Regional workshops on the building of sustainable national greenhouse gas management systems and the use of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
The GHG Support Unit organizes, in collaboration with the Technical Support Unit of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Task Force on National GHG Inventories and FAO, three regional training workshops per year on the building of sustainable national GHG inventory management systems, including on how to establish and/or strengthen national institutional arrangements for the implementation of the modalities, procedures and guidelines for the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement and how to effectively use and implement the 2006 IPCC Guidelines. The regional workshops also provide training on the latest version of the IPCC software.
An interactive training approach is used, including presentations, discussions, exercises using real data sets, hands-on spreadsheets and software use. Presentations by Parties on their experiences and question and answer sessions allow the specifics of all regions to be addressed.
The latest and planned workshops are shown below.
Workshop title
Time
Venue
Documents (Agenda and LoP)
Workshop on the building of sustainable national greenhouse gas inventory management systems, and the use of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories for the Africa region
Workshop on the building of sustainable national greenhouse gas inventory management systems, and the use of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories for the Asia-Pacific and Eastern European regions
E-courses and certification programme on the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
The UNFCCC secretariat supports, on an annual basis, the enrolment of national experts to the e-learning and certification courses on 2006 IPCC Guidelines for national GHG inventories from the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, thereby increasing the pool of experts in each country to prepare and submit transparent national GHG inventories on a regular basis.
The UNFCCC secretariat has, in addition to the French version of those e-courses, recently completed the translation into Spanish of all the GHG MI e-courses on the 2006 IPCC Guidelines. The Spanish version will be made available for the third round of enrolment of national experts to be launched in the second half of 2021.
The secretariat received 754 nominations from 97 countries of experts to take part in the first round of online training, which concluded in April 2020, and 311 (41%) experts obtained certification for the sector of their choice.
For the second round, which ran from September 2020 to April 2021, 314 nominations of experts to take part were received from 102 countries and 122 experts (39%) experts obtained certification for the sector of their choice.
IPCC inventory software
The UNFCCC secretariat supports, and collaborates with, the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories on the enhancement of the IPCC inventory software to facilitate the development and reporting of national GHG inventories by developing countries, including performing testing of the enhanced versions of the software until its completion.
Self-organized peer-to-peer collaborative learning among developing countries
The UNFCCC secretariat supports on-demand, self-organized peer-to-peer collaborative learning among developing countries.
Improving statistics for the energy sector to facilitate the effective implementation of the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement
The GHG Support Unit has launched a new type of in-country capacity-building activities to provide, on request, direct technical support to developing country Parties seeking to improve their national energy statistics and energy balances in order to meet the reporting requirements for GHG inventories, and for mitigation under the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement. Quality energy statistics and energy balances for the energy sector provide a foundation for developing transparent GHG estimates for a sector of the national GHG inventory that is key for all countries.
The capacity-building activities involve all national authorities for energy statistics, including energy and transport ministries, regulators, State-owned energy companies, customs offices and statistical agencies, together with the national entity in charge of compiling the inventory and the national GHG inventory compilation team. The aim is to provide assistance in the development and use of energy statistics and energy balances for the national GHG inventory, including energy indicators and Sankey diagrams, in particular for ensuring time-series consistency and filling data gaps. The assistance will also include training on the use of the GHG inventory in the energy sector by policy planners and decision makers for identifying and meeting a country’s objectives under the Paris Agreement.
The UNFCCC secretariat collaborates with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the IPCC to build the capacity of developing countries to develop and maintain/improve national energy balances as a means of reinforcing transparency in reporting national GHG inventories on a regular basis.
The joint global training workshop on energy aims at strengthening the technical capacities of developing countries with a view to assisting them to prepare high-quality national GHG inventories for the energy sector, which will be used for multiple purposes, including as the basis for effective national mitigation policy development and for enhanced transparency in reporting, as well as the building of trust among Parties to the Convention and the Paris Agreement.
Global workshop on the uncertainty analysis in national greenhouse gas inventories in developing countries
The UNFCCC secretariat organizes, on an annual basis, in collaboration with the IPCC, one workshop on the management of uncertainties in national GHG inventories in accordance with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines.
The uncertainty analysis has been identified across all QA workshops conducted by the UNFCCC secretariat as a key area for improvement by developing countries. This thematic training is offered by the GHG Support Unit, in collaboration with the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, to train experts from developing countries to assist them to conduct and report uncertainty assessment as required by the 2006 IPCC Guidelines and the modalities, procedures and guidelines for the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement.
Joint global training workshop on agriculture, forestry and other land use
The UNFCCC secretariat supports a joint global training workshop on the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector for developing countries to prepare for an effective implementation of the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement, organized by FAO with the collaboration of the IPCC.
AFOLU is one of the sectors where many technical issues have been identified during the QA workshops organized by the UNFCCC secretariat, and for which developing countries have requested additional support. In response to that request, the GHG Support Unit organizes jointly with FAO a thematic workshop on AFOLU to address issues related to, among other matters, institutional arrangements, data collection, implementation of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, IPCC software and uncertainty analysis.
The UNFCCC secretariat supports, and collaborates with, the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, on the enhancement of the IPCC inventory software to facilitate the development and reporting of national GHG inventories by developing countries, including performing testing of the enhanced versions of the software until its completion.
The new generation of the IPCC inventory software was officially released at COP 27, during a joint UNFCCC / IPCC side event.
The UNFCCC secretariat is collaborating with the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute to develop and make freely available a data collection and management tool called Sectoral Activity Data for GHG Emissions (SAGE).
The tool will provide a user-friendly interface for inputting data and necessary documentation to allow for transparent, accurate, consistent, comparable and complete GHG inventories, projections and mitigation impact quantification. It will also be used for documenting, storing, and querying input data needed to quantify GHG emissions and removals and for quality control thereof. The tool will furthermore process data by, for example, converting proxy data into appropriate variables and units and filing in completeness and time series gaps, and will support the estimation of GHG emissions and removals by providing ready-to-use data input using other tools, in particular IPCC inventory software.
In collaboration with the GHG Management Institute, the GHG Support Unit organized a series of webinars on the Energy and IPPU sectors. You may find more information on the webinars in the section WEBINARS and ONLINE TRAININGS - TRAINING MATERIALS and RECORDINGS.
Mitigation-Inventory Tool for Integrated Climate Action (MITICA)
The UNFCCC secretariat has supported the development of and made available, for free, the mitigation inventory tool for integrated climate action for assisting developing country Parties in developing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions scenarios and mitigation actions based on their national GHG emission inventory.
MITICA places a strong emphasis on the importance of having an accurate national GHG inventory is an important basis for transparently evaluating national mitigation efforts. MITICA can be used for estimating the impact of mitigation actions and tracking progress towards nationally determined contributions. It can also help to improve climate change mitigation planning at the national level, including by providing more consistent and transparent emission projections for policymakers. Furthermore, it can assist in developing credible national mitigation targets and identifying the most impactful opportunities for reducing emissions at the national level.
The UNFCCC secretariat develops and disseminates guidance materials for the QA of national GHG inventory management systems and the latest GHG inventory estimates from developing countries.
The QA template is a tool developed to support the voluntary in-country QA of GHG inventory management systems and GHG inventories of developing countries, in line with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines and the modalities, procedures and guidelines for the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement regarding GHG inventories and national GHG inventory reports.
FLINT/moja global
The UNFCCC secretariat supports the refinement and deployment of the open-source Full Lands Integration Tool (FLINT) managed by the international moja global community to support GHG inventories and mitigation actions in the AFOLU sector and assist developing countries to meet their reporting requirements under the Convention and the Paris Agreement.
The UNFCCC secretariat, with the collaboration of moja global and the Government of Canada, organized training sessions from 30 August to 2 September 2021 entitled “Remote Training on the Policy and Technical Aspects of Approach 3, Spatially-Explicit Systems for the Land Sector: System Design, Development and Operation using the FLINT Platform”. The recordings and training material of the training sessions are accessible in the section Webinars and online trainings – training materials and recordings.
Digital Earth Africa
Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) Map is a website that aims to provide easy map-based access to spatial data on the African continent. It was developed by Data61 CSIRO in collaboration with Geoscience Australia to help improve understanding of how to use satellite data for better decision-making, including for setting up and maintaining measurement, reporting and verification systems under the Convention and implementing the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement for the agriculture, forestry and other land use sector.
By providing users with access to data and analysis tools, the website democratizes access to remote sensing data to enable ad hoc report generation and the rapid development of new algorithms to process remote-sensing data.
Agriculture and Land Use Greenhouse Gas Inventory Software
The Agriculture and Land Use Greenhouse Gas Inventory (ALU) Software guides an inventory compiler through the process of estimating GHG emissions and removals related to agricultural and forestry activities. This software is based on the methods in the 2006 IPCC Guidelines. The software simplifies the process of conducting the inventory by dividing the inventory analysis into steps to facilitate the compilation of activity data, assignment of emission factors and completion of the calculations. The software also has internal checks to ensure data integrity.
The ALU software programme is designed to support the evaluation of mitigation potential using the inventory data as a baseline for projecting emission trends associated with management alternatives.
Collect Earth
Collect Earth is a tool that enables data collection through Google Earth. Used in conjunction with Google Earth, Bing Maps and Google Earth Engine, high and very high resolution satellite imagery can be analysed for a wide variety of purposes.
It is highly customizable for specific data collection needs and methodologies.
HoliSoils – Natural Resources Institute Finland
The UNFCCC secretariat and the Natural Resources Institute Finland (a Government-owned research institute known as Luke) are collaborating to respond to mandates given to the secretariat to support the development of transparent and high-quality national GHG inventories by developing countries through a range of activities, including developing and disseminating methods, tools and data – particularly in relation to the agriculture, forestry and other land use sector – and providing relevant training for those countries.
The first collaborative project to be implemented will be HoliSoils, on which more information can be found via the following links:
The products of the project (such as a measurement protocol, and guidance for soil sampling and analysis) will be published and disseminated as they become available, and relevant training sessions for developing countries will be jointly delivered by the secretariat and Luke.
The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA)
The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) has developed and made freely available the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas National Inventory training programme which provides the foundation knowledge that supports the development of National GHG Inventory and assessing of GHG emissions from the agriculture sector. It focuses on introducing participants to climate change science, international obligations, and the science behind agricultural GHG Inventories.
The link below gives you access and further information on the training programme
Webinar on the COPERT model to support National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories from developing countries under the Enhanced Transparency
Framework of the Paris Agreement
Webinar on Uncertainty Analysis in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories from developing countries to support the implementation of the Enhanced Transparency Framework of the Paris Agreement
Webinar on the Sectoral Activity data for GHG Emissions (SAGE), a GHG data collection and management tool to support the implementation of the Enhanced Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement
The IPCC Inventory Software: A Tool to Support the Enhanced Transparency Framework Implementation under the Paris Agreement - Side event jointly organized by the UNFCCC secretariat and the IPCC TFI
Webinar on Soil Organic Carbon to Support National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories from Developing Countries under the Enhanced Transparency
Framework of the Paris Agreement
Online Demonstration for the Energy Sector of the Sectoral Activity data for GHG Emissions (SAGE), a GHG data collection and management tool to support the implementation of the Enhanced Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement
Remote Training on the Policy and Technical Aspects of Approach 3, Spatially-Explicit Systems for the Land Sector: System Design, Development and Operation using the FLINT Platform