DATA COLLECTION: LEGAL FRAMEWORK TO MANDATE CONTINUOUS REPORTING

Main challenges in the preparation of national communications and biennial update reports of Afghanistan include lack of availability of quality data, lack of data sharing mechanism, as well as lack of technical and institutional capacity in all sectors. For example, information on the LULUCF sector was not reported for 1990–2017 time series in the national GHG inventory due to lack of the updated land matrix data. In the energy sector, the data provided by the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) on energy balance is inconsistent with the data available in the International Energy Agency and the UN Statistics. Further, lack of a central climate change information system impedes keeping track of the support received and the impacts of mitigation actions.

To address data-related constraints, Afghanistan has established a technical working group (TWG) for data collection. The TWG is composed of all line ministries and agencies and led by NSIA ­– an agency mandated to collect and publish national statistics by national statistics law. The TWG, with technical support provided by National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) and National Study Teams (NSTs), works to develop data collection templates and protocols for overall MRV activities.

In accordance with the Environment Law of Afghanistan, NEPA is responsible for reporting under the UNFCCC. The primary data collected by relevant ministries and agencies are shared with NSIA, which conducts QA/QC of the data and reports it to NEPA in the templates designed by the NEPA. Thereafter, NEPA conducts the analysis and prepares the reports. Once the reports are reviewed by NEPA, the NSTs and TWG review and validate the information reported.

NEPA is also in the process of establishing a climate change national information system (CCNIS) with an aim to strengthen the institutional capacity for data collection and climate change governance in Afghanistan. Recently, one component of CCNIS, namely, monitoring the impacts of mitigation actions, was completed and under implementation.

Further, the government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan plans to develop a legal framework – secondary legislation – to give a permanent mandate to the NSTs and TWG as well as to formalize the data collection process. It will define specific tasks and responsibilities of each institution as well as a timeline for regular data collection and sharing. However, the finalization of the secondary legislation requires time to go through the official approval and endorsement process.

DATA COLLECTION: NEW GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND MRV SYSTEM

In Armenia, the energy sector is by far the largest producer of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For that sector the GHG inventory team does not face problems in accessing data required, as such information is published by National Statistics Committee and Public Services Regulatory Commission regularly. It enables and facilitates the process of application of country-specific emissions factors and higher tier approaches (including tier 3 approach) for estimating emissions from the majority of source categories in the energy sector. Since 2015, the National Statistics Committee publishes the annual energy balance, which is the most important source of activity data for the energy sector. The energy balance development team works closely with the GHG inventory team for ensuring accuracy and consistency of the data reported in energy balances and used for national GHG inventories.

The main challenge faced in preparing NCs and BURs remains in the collection and analysis of data on mitigation measures implemented in the country. In Armenia, institutional arrangements and procedures are not in place to ensure monitoring of and reporting on mitigation policies and actions. Until now, the mitigation-related information has been provided by the implementing agencies and funding organizations upon ad-hoc request from the Ministry of Environment, to complement the publicly available data sources. Since mitigation actions are implemented by diverse entities, including public sector at both national and community levels, private sector and non-governmental organizations, collection, analysis and reporting of mitigation measures and their impacts is challenging. In the case of energy sector, while the supply-side information on renewable energy is well monitored due to grid-connected plants, the demand-side information is difficult to collect and monitor. This issue was brought up while assessing the impact of the second National Energy Efficiency Action Plan.

Moreover, there is a risk of missing some measures and/or double counting in case the mitigation measure is implemented/financed/coordinated by more than one organization. In addition, there is no common approach on estimating the effect of mitigation measures in terms of the emissions factors applied.

Recognizing that putting in place a comprehensive MRV system is a critical component for tracking progress of NDC implementation, it is now being considered in the amendment of the Government Decree on Inter-agency Council on Climate Change. The importance of the establishment of MRV system is also included in the draft updated NDC (both documents were submitted by the Ministry of Environment for approval by the Government).

Further, Armenia acknowledges the need to put in place regulatory framework that defines roles and responsibilities for data collection, analysis, QA/QC and reporting of mitigation and adaptation actions. At the moment, the assigned responsibility to the Ministry of Environment is limited for preparation, publication and submission of national GHG inventories.

The country expects that the implementation of the upcoming CBIT project funded by the GEF will help build institutional and regulatory capacity for preparing for the implementation of the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement.

DATA COLLECTION: ENGAGING & TRAINING STAKEHOLDERS

The majority of data used to estimate GHG emissions in energy sector is publicly available from the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan Republic website. The remaining data can be easily obtained upon official request from relevant ministries and authorities.

Nevertheless, to enable annual data collection process on a continuous basis, it is necessary to provide legal basis for data collection activities and establish a national MRV system. This will enhance reporting capabilities and could also improve emissions reporting from both the agriculture and industrial processes and product use sectors.

Further, Azerbaijan needs to progress an MRV awareness raising and capacity-building action plan that targets stakeholders from both the government and private sectors. Stakeholders need to be informed on the importance and benefits of MRV activities, and subsequently, be provided with technical training on MRV reporting. This training should be focused on GHG inventory expertise as well as reporting of mitigation actions and their effects.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources established inter-ministerial working group to provide the necessary data. Draft versions of national communications and biennial update reports were sent to relevant ministries and organizations for comments and approvals prior to submission. The implementation of these activities allowed for the timely submission of Azerbaijan’s national reports.

DATA COLLECTION: TRAINING STAKEHOLDERS & STORING DATA

The major challenge for Bangladesh is the lack of reliable data and information consistent with IPCC guidelines. In energy sector, there are uncertainties and inconsistencies relating to, for example, coal activity data, coal calorific values, the breakdown and differentiated use of diesel, natural gas and other fuels, biomass activity data and the estimation of CH₄ and N₂O emissions.

In agriculture sector, key uncertainty arises from an absence of country-specific emission factors and activity data. In particular, estimating methane emissions from rice cultivation, the country’s major product, is highly uncertain because it depends primarily on how long fields are subject to inundation. Furthermore, seasonal emissions across Bangladesh may vary considerably as rice is grown under both irrigated and rain-fed conditions across the three seasons.

Another challenge in this sector is the estimation of nitrous oxide emissions, which has been done using data on import and domestic production of N-based fertilizers (urea and DAP). The actual total yearly consumption, for some periods, does not correspond to the total domestic production value as urea is also used for non-agricultural purposes.

To address these challenges and facilitate data collection process, the Department of Environment under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, a designated lead entity in preparing NCs and BURs, has put in place the National Steering Committee and Sectoral Working Groups which are tasked to coordinate relevant sectoral ministries and line agencies involved in relevant projects.

Under the new arrangement, all relevant stakeholders, i.e. data providers, receive a formal request to provide data, with instructions and templates for data provision. Technical officials from the Department and external experts carry out data collection and collation according to the IPCC guidelines, under the guidance of Sectoral Working Groups. The technical officials are provided with training, both in-country and abroad, and engaged in knowledge sharing with the external experts and consultants throughout the reporting process.

Furthermore, the Department has developed an archiving system to act as a data repository. Under the on-going Capacity-Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) project, the archiving system will be built on to establish a formal data sharing platform and corresponding data sharing agreements between key stakeholders. This will help to enhance coordination among stakeholders and facilitate data collection process.

DATA COLLECTION: STRENGTHENING COORDINATION BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERS

For the preparation of national GHG inventory, Brazil faces difficulties in collecting disaggregated data that would allow for emissions estimates at higher tiers and the application of 2006 IPCC guidelines. This is a structural challenge, since most of the time the data used for the inventory is initially generated by other organizations, for other policy purposes. In these cases, information gaps arise due to the non-incorporation of specific inventory demands in the initial data collection phase in the respective organizations, impacting also on the time series that should be represented. An example lies in the energy sector data which consists primarily of information from the National Energy Balance and from other public and private institutions.

Brazil also faces challenges in MRV of mitigation actions, due to similar difficulties in obtaining data and assessing emissions reductions associated with specific NAMAs.

To deal with this challenge, the Brazilian government has been strengthening institutional arrangements in the current preparation of the fourth national GHG inventory (see figure below). A high-quality technical team has been established. The government has also been raising the awareness of primary data collectors to specific inventory demands. For example, in the energy sector, a direct contact with the National Energy Balance team was established to improve reporting according to 2006 IPCC guidelines. In addition, national institutions responsible for air and road transport sector data have also been engaged. Partnerships for improving data collection and management with other institutions/stakeholders have been established for all sectors through formal arrangements (i.e. letters of agreement/government memoranda) or informal arrangements (i.e. meetings/consultations).

DATA COLLECTION & RETAINING CAPACITY: ESTABLISHING MOUs

The main challenges for Chile relate to 3 different aspects:

1. Information gathering in a systematic way: During the compilation of national reports, the information for mitigation actions and support received and needed is collected manually, primarily through the use of surveys. Hence, it is difficult to process and harmonizes the data and information.
2. Retention of institutional capacity: The assessment of mitigation impacts and tracking of progress in mitigation is being complicated by a loss of institutional capacity within sectoral teams. Chile has built capacities thanks to different international funds, however, managing staff turnover remains critical to maintain these capacities.
3. Access to information for tracking financial support: Chile has developed a method to cross-check information from different sources (donors, agencies, implementing institutions), which allows for a general map of support received. Nevertheless, obtaining access to specific budget information broken down by project as well as the percentage of allocated expenditure remains a complex challenge.

To address these challenges, the Ministries of Environment and Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to preserve roles and capacities related to climate change issues and to ensure there is regular information flow between institutions. A new MoU with the Ministry of Agriculture is currently under preparation.

Further, Chile is currently developing its Climate Change Law and this process is now up to the public consultation phase. This will formalize some of the institutional arrangements that will anchor more efficient reporting across stakeholders. Additionally, as supported by the Capacity-Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT), the Ministry of Environment is planning to design an informatics platform to systematize the collection of information across the relevant institutions. It is expected to be operational by 2020 or early 2021.

DATA MANAGEMENT: OVERARCHING GHG INVENTORY SYSTEM

The overall data management for inventory compilation is a prominent barrier for China. Although the Ministry of Environment acts as an overarching coordinating entity, there is no single technical unit in charge of GHG inventory compilation and management. China’s inventory is compiled by different institutes on a sectoral basis, for which all the information and background data is dispersed and subject to individual experts. In the case of personnel change, there are risks of losing sectoral background data and information. Furthermore, this dispersed set-up adds difficulty to the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedure and technical analysis.

To address this problem, China is currently building a national GHG data management system. This system is designed to carry out the various functions, ranging from inventory compilation from sectoral background data, development of standardized tables and descriptive paragraphs, QA/QC procedures, uncertainty analysis, key category analysis, to supporting technical analysis and ensuring proper archiving of all relevant background data and information. The data should be accessible by different users according to different aggregation levels, including sectoral experts, the overarching technical support unit, government officials, QA/QC experts and also be available to the general public. Figures below will demonstrate the current look of this system.

The energy sector module has almost been completed and has already begun to be used for QA/QC procedures. Further module functionality will be subject to additional support, both from domestic and international funds. In China’s application for access to the Capacity-Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) project and GEF funds, this has already been listed as a capacity-building need. China is looking forward to having this national GHG data management system fully operational in the next few years. This system will greatly support China’s fulfillment of obligations under the new modalities, procedures and guidelines for the enhanced transparency framework.

DATA COLLECTION: DATA SHARING AGREEMENTS & DATA REGISTRY

Gathering reliable and accurate data for national GHG inventory and mitigation assessment was one of the most difficult challenges Costa Rica faced during the preparation of the last biennial update report (BUR). There was no systematic process for gathering data. Instead, the process relied on informal, one-off requests, activated solely for the preparation of BUR and national communication (NC). Further, there was also no systemized process for data management or archiving once the data had been collected.

Costa Rica took two complementary approaches to create a more efficient and transparent data collection process for the preparation of NCs and BURs:

1. Data sharing agreements (particularly related to data for national GHG inventory):
   Firstly, a database was constructed with the input data being used for calculating the emissions and sources. With this mapped information, three different data sharing agreements were developed – two for public institutions and one for private companies. These agreements are complemented with a technical annex to ensure a proper data reporting structure. The Climate Change Directorate is currently still in negotiation with stakeholders to finalize these data sharing agreements, but it is expected that data collection will become much less burdensome and time-consuming once these data sharing agreements are put in place.
2. Structuring registration procedures for mitigation actions: Alongside the implementation of the National Climate Change Metrics System (SINAMECC), a national mitigation actions registry was developed. This registry is structured by a guide that defines the information that must be provided for each mitigation action. Furthermore, persons responsible for reporting must periodically provide updates on the indicators to monitor the impact of the mitigation project. This registry contains the information required for the preparation of BUR (and soon biennial transparency reports) and will therefore facilitate a much more transparent reporting process.

DATA  AVAILABILITY: INSTITUTIONALIZING DATA COLLECTION

Ghana has prepared and submitted three biennial update reports (BUR), four national communications (NC) and four national inventory reports (NIR). Taking the preparation of BURs as an example, the leading agencies, the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), faced insufficient access to resources to meet prioritized financial, technical, and capacity needs in the development process. There was a lack of clarity on the functional responsibilities and reporting line among the team members in relevant institutions. Therefore, there was limited data availability in some sectors, especially the waste sector.

Several measures have been put into place to address these challenges:

• Previously, funding for climate reporting mostly came from donor partners, which were insufficient. In Ghana, if programs can be captured in medium-term development plans of sectors and be approved by the Parliament, the government’s fund will be made available for their implementation. Thus, to ensure the central government allocate funding, climate reporting was mainstreamed into the work plans of relevant institutions.
• To address gaps in data collection and reporting on climate change, spearhead by the National Focal Person of Ghana to the UNFCCC, climate reporting was embedded in participating institutions’ governmental structures. This ensures that the participating institutions make data collection for climate reporting part of their functional units’ mandate with a dedicated officer to report required data. With financial support from the government, especially the Ghana EPA, this mainstreaming process was done through face-to-face discussions with the heads of institutions and in open workshops.
• Ghana EPA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with participating institutions. The MOU helped streamline the preparation process and ensure the timely delivery of the tasks, including data provision and future continuity.

These measures increased the number of institutions participating to the MRV system and their staff capacity, which supported provision of data and preparation of various components of the BUR, specifically the 3^rd BUR submitted on 12 August 2021. These measures also created an enabling environment, so that institutions representing different sectors made conscious efforts to report to the BUR compiler on data in their respective Annual Progress Reports.

To move towards the implementation of the enhanced transparency framework, there has been continuous capacity building on climate reporting targeted at national climate experts as part of the institutionalization of climate reporting. In 2021 alone, with support from Ghana EPA, about four hybrid training sessions on the enhanced transparency framework have been held.

Photo 1 (left) Members of the national climate reporting team

Photo 2 (right) Dr. Daniel Benefoh, National Focal Point of Ghana to the UNFCCC, leading the capacity-building effort on ETF

DATA QUALITY & COLLECTION: MANDATING RESPONSIBILITY & A DATA REGISTRY

One challenge Indonesia faced during the preparation of biennial update report (BUR) and national communication lied in the activity data collection process to fulfil memo items for national GHG inventory due to lack of availability of activity data.

For example, reporting emissions from international bunker fuels is challenging because the fuel consumption for international aviation and maritime transport are not separated from those used in domestic aviation and maritime transport. This problem was overcome in the second NC because the fuel price for domestic transport was subsidized, which allowed for fuel consumption data for domestic aviation and maritime transport to be distinguished from international use. Currently, the Ministry of Transport is attempting to separately record international and domestic fuel use in aviation and maritime transport by requesting transportation companies to report their own fuel consumption. It is expected that this new reporting framework will allow for emissions to be estimated from fuel consumption data rather than from fuel sale data. Similarly, challenges remain in the data collection and estimation of non-CO₂ gases for sub-categories within the land-use, land-use change and forestry sector.

Another challenge relates to estimating emissions reduction from mitigation actions, ranging from data gathering on mitigation actions, methodologies, assumptions, steps to measure the effects of mitigation actions. To be more specific, there are lack of:

1. Approaches and methods for collecting data required to estimate emissions reduction from the implemented mitigation measures. The data collection process for mitigation activities is largely separate from the existing data collection process for GHG inventory within the related agencies; hence the collected activity data on mitigation is not integrated into the data collection system for the GHG inventory;
2. Capacity of agencies to align data from mitigation activities with the GHG inventory data.

To overcome these challenges, Indonesia issued Ministry Regulation No. 73/2017 which contained an annex that designated a responsible unit for each emissions source within each sector agency and clearly defined their key roles and responsibilities. The regulation further established a coordination mechanism between the involved institutions.

Under this mechanism, there are two levels of responsibility for national GHG inventory:

1. Sectoral coordinator – the lead at the sectoral level
2. Sub-sectoral responsible unit – data providers at the sub-category level

The mechanism operates as follows:

1. Sub-sectoral responsible units provide data, information and the estimation of their sub-sector GHG emissions and removals to the Sectoral Coordinator;
2. Sectoral coordinators compile, process and report the data and information to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF). 

This regulation also mandated the establishment of a web-based platform to calculate emissions known as SIGN SMART. Previously, sectors would only provide the data and the MoEF would perform the emission calculations. The new arrangement will ensure sectors are also responsible for conducting their own emissions calculations, quality assurance and quality control and data management practices.

In terms of enhancing MRV of mitigation actions, Indonesia has passed regulation No. 71/2017 that mandated the development of the National Registry System of Climate Change (NRS-CC). This forms a vital part of Indonesia’s implementation of the enhanced transparency framework under Article 13 of the Paris Agreement. The NRS-CC aims to collect information on actions, and sources of resources used, for the implementation of mitigation actions. Utilizing NRS-CC, all sectors and associated entities who wish to contribute to the implementation of mitigation actions should register their mitigation activities through this system. This is then followed by domestic verification process. The NRS-CC will help avoid duplication, overlapping, double reporting and double counting in MRV of mitigation actions. The NRS-CC system is designed as a web-based platform to accommodate all users and multi-platform devices. It is accessible by the public and entities/individuals who wish to register or search for information related to climate change. The NRS-CC workflow structure is outlined in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. National Registry System for Climate Change (NRS-CC) Workflow.

RETAINING CAPACITY: MAINSTREAMING DOMESTIC MRV TRAINING

As a SIDS, the lack of available technical and human capacities within the civil service to complete the national reports posed a challenge for Jamaica. Jamaica has neither a formal domestic transparency system in place to track activities nor a formal MRV system to ensure that the requirements are being met. There is a shortage of sector-specific technical experts who are familiar with the appropriate methodologies and in particular with the use of IPCC methodologies for GHG inventory database development. Currently, local data collection efforts restrict the application of Tier 2 methodology, with the exception of the energy sector.

The immediate impact of these challenges is that in the process of preparing national reports, Jamaica had to procure international experts who were at times unfamiliar with the local situation, policies, procedures and entities.

To address the challenges, the Climate Change Division (CCD) of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC) solicited the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This resulted in the development of project-by-project workflows through a newly created Project Management Unit (PMU) hosted in the CCD. The PMU ensured the efficient flow of activities needed to complete the reporting requirements, including the development of the national GHG inventory, a prototype GHG database management system as well as the procurement of local and international specialists. Through the relationship between the UNDP, CCD and the PMU, funds from Jamaica’s Third National Communication (NC3) project were invested in training initiatives. The NC3 was presented to the UNFCCC Secretariat in November 2018 and officially submitted in January 2019.

Unfortunately, the PMU is no longer operational as it was created to facilitate the NC3 project. However, in 2018, Jamaica, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank, submitted a Capacity-Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) concept entitled “Strengthening Jamaica’s capacity to meet transparency requirements under the Paris Agreement” for GEF grant financing. This concept was approved. Subsequently, in May 2019, a further elaboration of the project was submitted to the GEF for project endorsement and approval. The GEF endorsed the project for implementation in October 2019.  

When this project is successfully implemented, it will strengthen Jamaica's transparency framework through the design and implementation of a fully functional and harmonized domestic MRV system for the effective implementation of its nationally determined contribution and other transparency-related activities. Further, it will aim to institutionalize tertiary level training on topics such as MRV, IPCC guidelines, standard baselines and GHG inventories. As a result, there would be a continuous cohort of persons with knowledge in these areas.

Recently, the Office of the Cabinet gave approval for the update of the Climate Change Policy Framework, which was first promulgated in 2015. The revision will take into consideration a post-Paris era that includes matters relating to the need for an institutionalized transparency system. The government is also undertaking analysis of possible legislative and regulatory needs regarding climate change.

DATA QUALITY & COLLECTION: LEAD AGENCY AND MRV PLATFORM

The climate reporting process in Jordan started early; the country submitted its first national Communication in 1998. To date, Jordan has successfully submitted three national communications (NCs) and a biennial update report (BUR). However, the reporting process can be described as neither sustainable nor planned on a timely manner. The process was as follows:

• Jordan’s GHG inventory estimation and reporting is currently prepared only for the purpose of NCs and BUR rather than on an established, systematized timetable. Reports are principally prepared through national efforts within projects normally supported by GEF-UNDP.
• To date, Jordan has prepared national GHG inventories for 1994, 2000, 2006 and 2010 and 2012 as part of BUR1. Estimates for BUR1 and national GHG inventories for 2010 and 2012 have used 2006 IPCC guidelines, whereas revised 1996 IPCC guidelines were used for earlier reports.
• Activity data is collected using a bottom-up traditional approach for all sectors except energy, where a top-down reference approach is used. This approach has proved to be long and tedious, and mostly not successful without internal personal connections and support of the members of the National Committee for Climate Change.
• To collect activity data, formal letters requesting the data are sent from the Ministry of Environment to all line ministries, national stakeholders and institutions. Tables are attached to the formal letters with instructions on the required data and specific format. Follow-up visits are generally arranged by national experts.
• Unfortunately, the data for most sectors are not readily available as per IPCC format and are often scattered across multiple departments and organizations.
• At national organizations, data are mostly kept only as paper copies, increasing the complexity in compiling data and similarly increasing the risk of data being lost or destroyed.

To improve climate reporting, Jordan has introduced the following actions over the last couple of years:

• The Ministry of Environment was established in 2003 to address Jordan’s environmental problems. Since this time, Jordan has witnessed a steady expansion of the legal and institutional framework for environmental protection. The Ministry has become the focal point for all international environmental conventions, including the UNFCCC.
• Jordan is undergoing a rapid and effective process of enhancing its institutions and policy relevant framework for addressing challenges posed by climate change. In August 2014, the Ministry of Environment created the Directorate of Climate Change with a mandate to act as an institutional hub for coordinating all climate change activities in Jordan with relation to the UNFCCC. Furthermore, the Prime Minister established a representative National Climate Change Committee (NCCC) that involves stakeholders associated with climate change in Jordan.
• In 2013, a milestone was achieved with the launch and adoption of the first National Climate Change Policy (NCCP), the first in the region. The policy was drafted to accommodate all national climate change priorities for action and to provide a highly flexible policy reference point, upon which further strategies and sectoral policies can be based. The implementation of the NCCP relies on a framework of laws, agendas and strategies developed by the relevant ministries and authorities that provides enabling environment.
• As part of this enabling environment, Jordan passed the Environmental Protection Law in May 2017. This law mandates the Ministry of Environment to “coordinate national efforts to predict the process of climate change, identify the sectors covered by its effects, and limit and mitigate GHG emissions by means such as funding, technology transfer and reallocation of available funding and its distribution to climate change activities” (Art.4.C).
• In 2018, Jordan launched the first version of its domestic web-based multi-level MRV system that tackles the energy sector GHG reductions reporting and tracking for the renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. There is a need to expand this system to include the remaining sectors. A brief snapshot of this system is provided in screenshots below.
• In 2019, a Climate Change By-law was issued. The By-law responds to the need to define a framework to establish a clear and effective institutional setting able to address climate change challenges while capitalizing opportunities for low carbon and climate resilient development. It also represents an effort to position Jordan as an attractive destination for climate and green finance. The Climate Change By-Law results from the obligations derived from the execution of the Environmental Protection Law that urges the government to adopt legislative measures in climate policies and equips the Ministry of Environment with the legal power to achieve its mandate which includes leading the national and international efforts for climate action in Jordan.

DATA QUALITY: DESIGNING A COLLABORATIVE DATA SYSTEM

The main challenge for Lebanon in preparing national communications (NCs) and biennial update reports (BURs) revolves around a lack of available, reliable and accessible data. There are many cases where the data might be available but not accessible, where the data are accessible but not consistent across agencies, where the data are consistent but not correctly reflecting national circumstances, or where the data are not available. Such data issues pose challenges in collecting activity data, developing national emission factors, reporting on mitigation actions and tracking climate finance.

Further complicating the challenge is the location of data which is diverse and scattered across ministries, the private sector and academic institutions. Different methods and approaches must be used for collecting, verifying and utilizing required data and information. This task is often hindered by a lack of financial and human resources.

To overcome this data challenge and with an aim to enhance the effectiveness and transparency of Lebanon’s MRV efforts, Lebanon has developed a ‘Management and Information System for Climate Action’ (MISCA). This system will help line ministries estimate GHG emissions in the respective sector, track their own progress in achieving sectoral targets under nationally determined contribution and facilitate the sharing of information across stakeholders. MISCA has been collaboratively designed by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Energy and Water, with support from the EU-funded ClimaSouth project.

Fine-tuning and testing of the system is still on-going to make more compatible with the 2006 IPCC guidelines and reporting requirements of the MPGs, alongside the training of technicians and future system users. MISCA relies on an open architecture to ensure the easy customization of supporting databases into the future. It also allows the automatic calculation of CO₂ emissions produced and mitigated as to facilitate the reporting and management of mitigation measures.

It is anticipated that under the enhanced transparency framework, the partnership will be expanded to other line ministries, including the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry. MISCA aims to eventually include the complete inventory information for all sectors in Lebanon, tracking progress indicators for mitigation and adaptation measures and holding a repository page for all knowledge products and methodologies. The Capacity-Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) initiative will tackle part of the development of MISCA.

This MRV improvement project is in line with the requirements of the newly adopted modalities, procedures and guidelines, to first establish robust institutional arrangements and secondly, improve the transparency, accuracy, completeness, comparability and consistency (TACCC) of data overtime.

For further information of the Lebanese MISCA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdZm4uj1g_w

DATA QUALITY: DEFINING ROLES & PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT

The preparation of national Communications (NCs) and biennial update reports (BURs) requires direct involvement from various stakeholders representing a broad range of government agencies, private sector, research institutions, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions. In the data collection process, the challenges involved include fulfilling the completeness of the inventory according to IPCC’s sub-categories, gaps in historical data and improving data quality. The data collection process is also subject to some challenges with regard to insufficient buy-in (for data access), particularly from the private sector. To overcome this issue, consultation and engagement sessions with the stakeholders often take place to identify and resolve issues pertaining to data as well as validation processes. This process, while indeed time consuming, has helped fill data gaps, resolved data inconsistencies and increased stakeholders’ participation. Cooperation with private sector data providers is also being actively pursued in order to obtain more accurate activity data by engaging certain groups or associations (such as in manufacturing sector). Continuous capacity-building of the inventory compilers and data providers is also being carried out, including through training by the GHG external reviewers.

The preparation of NCs and BURs is currently coordinated by existing institutional arrangements under a National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC), chaired by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC), with participation by other relevant ministries and agencies. Under the NSCCC, a National Communication and Biennial Update Report National Steering Committee (NC/BUR NSC) is responsible for the preparation of NCs and BURs. The NC/BUR NSC consists of a Project Management Group and Secretariat led by MESTECC, five Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and its Sub-working groups (SWGs).

The success of the coordination under the NC/BUR NSC highly depends on the clear roles and responsibilities of each of the entities. Also, due to the frequency of reporting of NCs and BURs, there is a greater need for a transition from the current temporary institutional arrangements towards a more continuous, sustained process involving a permanent national entity. A single, stable coordinating team will not only increase institutional memory, but will also serve to strengthen internal capacity-building. In this regard, Malaysia is looking forward for the establishment of a permanent institution such as the National Climate Change Centre in the long term.

Malaysia’s institutional arrangements relating to Climate Change are illustrated on Figure 1 below.

DATA COLLECTION: INSTITUTIONALIZING DATA SHARING PROCESS

The biggest challenge for Maldives lies in getting adequate access to data, mainly due to the lack of formal institutional arrangements between line ministries. Amongst high emitting sectors – namely, energy, waste and transport – the weakest sectors in terms of availability of quality data are waste and transport sectors. The data gap is significant when it comes to the private sector – especially for a country where there are a number of resorts owned and operated by private parties. In addition, the data for preparing national communications and biennial update reports (BURs) are collected and verified on an ad-hoc basis; and there is no formal working group in place to facilitate the MRV process.

As part of the BUR project, Maldives carried out a thorough gap analysis to understand the existing gaps in the MRV system. Discussions were made amongst relevant stakeholders to institutionalize the data sharing process. Some institutions have indicated that some of the required indicators could be accommodated in their data collection processes. The country plans to do a dry run of such an approach in the preparation of subsequent reports.

Further, efforts are being made to enhance the existing MRV system with support through Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) and Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) projects. The CBIT project focuses on strengthening MRV of mitigation by establishing formal working groups and memorandum of understanding for data sharing between data providers and the Ministry of Environment to ensure availability of data on a continuous basis. Further, the project aims to establish an online national climate change data hub and database.

The ICAT project focuses on enhancing MRV of the waste sector by developing and implementing appropriate data collection and data management procedures and establishing legal instruments needed for the robust implementation of an MRV system of the waste sector.

DATA COLLECTION: ENGAGING & TRAINING STAKEHOLDERS

One of the constraints Mauritania experienced in the preparation of national communication and biennial update report related to data gap, especially in the transport, livestock and forestry sectors. The country also lacked a formal process to engage sectoral institutions to provide data, assess mitigation effects of actions and retain institutional capacity or staff resources.

In order to address such issues, Mauritania has put in place a coordination mechanism and legal framework that mandates data sharing by sectoral institutions. It also established a web-based knowledge management platform to facilitate the process of defining and assessing mitigation effects of actions.

In preparation for the implementation of the ETF, Mauritania has created a network of sectoral focal points appointed by the respective sectoral institutions that provides data and empowered them to prepare sectoral data on a regular basis. Further, the country promotes, to the extent possible, sectoral focal points to participate in capacity-building activities, including regional training opportunities and negotiation processes during climate change conferences. To sustain a good number of sectoral experts involved in MRV process, the country developed and maintains a database of experts to help sectoral focal points improve data quality and transparency of reporting over time.

The efforts to increase political buy-in by bringing visibility of MRV/transparency at high-level governance structure as well as efforts to integrate planning for reporting into other national planning process are also under way.

^{The Institutional arrangement under the third national communication process for Mauritius, Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change, Mauritius.}

Mauritius faced challenges on the availability of time series data and data sharing mechanism, when preparing National Communication (NCs) and Biennial Update Reports (BURs), especially for some specific sectors and areas. For instance, the forestry sector data collected was not compatible with the IPCC software. It is resource-intensive and time-consuming to convert the available raw data to the required format for data entry into the IPCC software when preparing the NCs. It is also challenging to engage stakeholders in obtaining data. For example, mitigation actions in Mauritius are implemented by diverse entities, including the private sector. These implementing entities have provided mitigation-related information for NCs and BURs upon ad-hoc request from the Ministry of Environment. Therefore, collecting, analyzing and reporting mitigation measures and their impacts is challenging. In addition, the availability of a national platform to enable annual data collection on a continuous basis is lacking. An updated land-use matrix is also not available.

Mauritius applied a more formalized institutional arrangement to mitigate the constraints mentioned above. The country adopted a participatory stakeholder consultation process of various consultants and technical teams to prepare the NC3 (submitted in 2017 and 2018). Different Technical Working Groups (TWGs) were set up, and relevant institutions involved in climate change-related activities were officially identified to form part of these groups. A Chair was also nominated for each of the working groups. These TWGs were established to oversee the technical implementation of data/information collection and quality control of climate change activities in the various key sectors, such as GHG inventory, mitigation assessment and environmentally sound technologies, adaptation, education, training and public awareness, and research and systematic observation. A similar approach was also adopted for the preparation of the BUR1.

Additionally, a Project Steering Committee and a Project Technical Committee were established under the NC3 and BUR1 to provide guidance in terms of the process leading to political and stakeholder ownership and to provide overall quality assurance for the final deliverables under the project. There is also a Climate Change Act 2020, which came into force in April 2021. The Act makes provision for the setting up of a Department of Climate Change, which shall, inter alia, develop policies, programmes and action plans relating to climate change and coordinate research relating to climate change.

Recognizing that putting in place a comprehensive MRV system is a critical component for tracking the progress of NDC implementation, the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change has embarked on the setting up of an NDC registry to track progress on a regular basis on three modules namely adaptation measures, mitigation measures and support received. These modules would allow the capture of information following the Modalities, Procedures and Guidelines (MPGs) for Enhanced Transparency Framework referred to in Article 13 of the Paris Agreement. The Registry would act as a data repository and facilitate reporting requirements under the Paris Agreement, including tracking the progress towards NDC targets. The Registry is planned to go live by June 2022. Such a monitoring and evaluation system will allow a sustained and continuous provision of data and information.

DATA COLLECTION: LEGAL FRAMEWORK TO MANDATE CONTINUOUS REPORTING
 

Mexico has faced difficulties associated with institutional arrangements facilitating data collection. In order to prepare national GHG inventory, institutional arrangements are needed to collect data from various sectors and institutions. Data collection requires dedicated personnel and authority to be able to request the information, as well as a continuous training of the team involved in the estimations. A further problem relates to the update of the inventory on a more frequent basis than every 4 years, especially in relation to decision making on domestic mitigation policy.

To overcome these issues, Mexico first included the GHG inventory obligation in the General Law of Climate Change, issued in 2012. This law established the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), with a mandate of preparing national GHG inventories. The law also established the obligation of the National Emissions Registry, which requires big emitters to submit detailed GHG emissions information. It additionally mandates subnational authorities to coordinate with INECC in terms of preparing GHG inventories.

To address problems regarding continuous reporting and periodic updates, the law created a mandate for the provision of an annual update for fossil fuel related emissions, a biannual update for all other emissions and an update every 4-year period for LULUCF. The advantage of this is that Mexico will be able to comply with both its international obligations to the UNFCCC and also provide useful information for decision making on domestic climate policy.

CONFIDENTIAL DATA: LEGISLATING DATA SHARING AGREEMENTS

Moldova has faced difficulties in obtaining activity data for estimating GHG emissions from category 1A3 Transport using higher tier methodologies (tier 2 and 3) in the most recent inventory cycles. This data is necessary for the whole time-series, from 1990, the reference year, to 2016, the most recent year.

The GHG inventory team discovered in 2015 that the required activity data was in possession of the State Company called Centre for State Information Resources – “Registru”. The Climate Change Office under the Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment intervened with an official letter to the Centre requesting access to this data.

In its response, the State Company indicated that the information may be provided only for certain years (1995-2015) and with service charge estimated to be about 20,000 USD. This high service charge made the process unfeasible and a decision was taken to report emissions from category 1A3 Transport using tier 1 methodology only.

In order to address cases similar to that mentioned above, a process of developing the national system for monitoring and reporting GHG emissions and other information relevant to climate change (hereinafter referred to as NSMR) was initiated in 2015. Under the UNDP’s Low Emission Capacity Building Programme, the system was finally established through the Government Decision No. 1277 as of 26 December 2018. By establishing the NSMR, a legal framework for the enforcement and ratification of a suite of environmental laws became available. These can be found here.

Furthermore, the Regulation on the Organization and Functioning of the NSMR (hereinafter referred to the NSMR Regulation), adopted in February 2019, has also partially transposed the relevant provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and for reporting other information at national and Union level relevant to climate change and repealing Decision No. 280/2004/EC.

The NSMR Regulation, Annex I, specifies all activity data required for the compilation of national GHG inventory for energy, industrial processes and product use, agriculture, land-use, land-use change and forestry and waste sectors. It also outlines the required parameters and/or indicators, the measuring unit related to those parameters or indicators, the authority responsible for data provision, the official data sources and the deadline for data submission (all data are expected to be received by the designated authority responsible for reporting, the Environment Agency, free of charge). Concomitantly, the Government Decision No. 1277 as of 26 December 2018, Annex II, provides the list of authorities and institutions that are part of the NSMR and that have the responsibility to provide all needed information for reporting under the UNFCCC.

Recently, in the frame of EU4Climate regional project, it has been initiated the process of revision of  the Government Decision No. 1277, as the overarching NSMR Regulation, in line with the newly adopted modalities, procedures and guidelines for the enhanced transparency framework (Decision 18/CMA.1). Recommendations will be provided to the Government for consideration and approval by the end of 2020.

Data gaps and lack of regular data monitoring in waste statistics and the AFOLU sector.  

With the financial support from GEF, Montenegro’s NCs and BURs have been developed by UNDP in close cooperation with the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism (MESPU), the ministry which is in-charge of climate change, and other national institutions in charge of specific sections of NCs and BURs, namely: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the GHG inventory, Hydro-meteorological Institute for climate data, State Statistical Office input data for GHG inventory etc.

As of 2021, MESPU will take over  preparations for the future reporting under the UNFCCC. This change will require additional staff, with strong managerial capacities, within MESPU and other supporting national institutions in order to submit NCs and BURs in time. Currently, there are two main challenges:

Lack of specific expertise. More specifically, the GHG inventory unit within EPA consists of only two permanent staff covering energy/industry (well experienced) and AFOLU (works usually with additional national or international experts). For the waste sector, there is a need for internal and external expertise both nationally and internationally. The unit does not have a compiler nor experts for QA/QC etc. In addition, there is no institution in Montenegro in-charge or experienced in calculating GHG emission projections. When it comes to sectoral analysis, strategies, and planning, almost all sectors (health, agriculture, forestry etc.) are lacking national expertise. For climate adaptation, the Hydro-meteorological Institute is part of international fora related to climate change (members of the WMO), and they conduct climate modeling based on the regularly monitored climate data. Lastly, there is limited knowledge of the MRV system within the country.

Data gaps and lack of regular data monitoring in waste statistics and the AFOLU sector. For waste statistics, there is a lack of historic data, and the current data was mainly obtained based on assumptions and default values. Data in AFOLU are still on Tier 1, some data are outdated (e.g., forestry) or not monitored regularly (e.g., land-use, land-use change). In addition, national emission factors are not used in those sectors.

To address these challenges, a series of capacity-building activities were conducted targeting relevant institutions for them to take over the reporting process in the future. State Statistical Office was trained in collecting input data for GHG Inventory; mentoring support for the development of the MRV system was provided to MESPU staff. Supported by the Austrian EPA, the "Twinning light" project is underway, which will build the country’s capacity in creating GHG inventories for the waste sector.

The conceptual framework for the establishment of a national MRV system was developed in 2018. This was based on a large-scale consultation process with national stakeholders, and with support from international expertise. The concept was largely accepted by national partners and ready for implementation. However, due to the change in the political situation, the existing concept is in the process of revision and will be finalized by the end of 2021 and will be reported in the third BUR.

As soon as the concept is revised/confirmed, MESPU will take action to make the national MRV system fully operational. Financial support has already been secured through Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency. The support envisages the development of necessary methodologies, procedures, guidelines for mitigation actions, adaptation actions, GHG inventory and climate finance. In addition, significant support has been allocated for the establishment of a web-based portal/database, which will eventually facilitate the UNFCCC reporting requirements. In parallel, necessary agreements/memoranda will be signed between relevant institutions regarding data sharing, and related capacity building activities will be conducted (mentoring, training, knowledge sharing etc.). The entire process should be finalized by 2025.

_{Figure 1 proposed institutional arrangements for an MRV system in Montenegro (source: Montenegro Third National Communication on Climate Change 2020)} 

CONFIDENTIAL DATA: ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS TO SHARE KNOWLEDGE & DATA

Staff turnover has been a major challenge in setting up a robust and sustainable institutional arrangement for Namibia. From one cycle of reporting to the next, new working group members join the process, which demands continual training and often leads to delays. A second issue faced by Namibia is accessing data from the private sector. There are several instances where private sector stakeholders are unwilling to share their data due to confidentiality issues.

Namibia has addressed staff turnover by writing formal letters from the Executive Directors of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the coordinating ministry, to other line ministries requesting them to avail more than one staff member to serve on the working group. This is to ensure that knowledge is shared amongst more than one individual and is therefore retained should one staff member leave. To safeguard high-level buy-in to this process, high level consultations with key institutions have taken place and are still on-going.

To tackle data confidentiality issue, private sector companies are being assured that their data will be strictly treated as confidential. Stakeholders are reminded that individual companies will not be mentioned within the report, which is collated as a national document.

DATA COLLECTION: LEAD AGENCY & BUILDING DOMESTIC CAPACITY

The major challenges faced during the preparation of Nigeria’s national reports relate to data availability, collection and management. Much of the required data is located in silos and is not centralized. For instance, energy sector data are available across different institutions and it can be difficult to sieve out what is relevant. It is necessary to collate this data to ease the collection and reporting processes.

Nigeria is putting in place a plan to address this challenge that will be implemented alongside the preparation of Nigeria’s second biennial update report (BUR2), currently in progress. An international consultant is being contracted to provide training and knowledge sharing to national experts during the production of the BUR2. However, due to time and financial constraints, vis-a-vis the relatively high number of national experts concerned, progress is expected to be average. A request for international assistance to address priority capacity building needs may become imperative. 

The Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee on Climate Change is being used as a hub for collating data. This has allowed for faster access to data. Moving forward, however, there is still a need for capacity-building and the provision of software and hardware for regular collection of data.

Fully acknowledging the imperative need to fill the identified gaps, Nigeria is in the process of initiating a strategic action plan to address capacity gaps. Nigeria has constituted a Committee to develop terms of reference for the development of the action plan and its implementation means. To date, this has involved: provision of capacity-building knowledge training at the subnational level, initiation of critical engagement with NDC Partnership for relevant support, and still on-going is an engagement with the 2050 Pathway Platform to develop a long-term low GHG emission development strategy. A prioritization exercise assessing capacity needs has also been completed.

Nigeria still has an ad-hoc demand and supply arrangement with data providers and there is a need to put in place a permanent arrangement such as a formal legal contract or memorandum of understanding.

RETAINING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY: ESTABLISHING A LEAD AGENCY AND COORDINATION MECHANISMS

One of the main problems that Papua New Guinea (PNG) faced with the preparation of national GHG inventories relates to retaining experiences and capacity built from the previous reporting cycle(s). Currently, national reports are being prepared on a project basis and the sector leads, mainly from government agencies responsible for the respective sector, are subject to a high turnover. As a result, the sector leads assigned for the preparation of the second national communication (NC) were completely different from those involved in the preparation of the first NC. It took a while for the new sector leads to understand how to compile data and estimate emissions from the respective sectors, which caused a delay in the completion of national GHG inventory chapter. Furthermore, lack of technical and institutional capacity persists across relevant and key stakeholders that provide primary data required for national reporting to the UNFCCC.

To address the issue identified above, PNG established Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) as a coordination entity for all climate change related policy and actions, with the mandate to compile and prepare national GHG inventories on a regular basis. Within the CCDA structure, there are sector leads responsible for compiling the data and estimating GHG emissions from the respective sectors. Further, sub-Technical Working Committees (TWCs) were established for the AFOLU and energy sectors that consist of key stakeholders and development partners who can assess inventory data and information, discuss and provide strategic advice to the division head and management of respective sectors. Sub-TWCs for the waste and IPPU sectors are under development. It is expected that these sub-TWCs will play a key role in the development of relevant regulations under the national Climate Change Management Act (2015) to assist MRV work in the future – particularly under Part IV and Part VII of the Act on overall MRV activities and authority to inspect and collect data for national GHG inventories, respectively. The sectoral sub-TWCs will be responsible for providing technical guidance for implementation of the regulations and policies in their respective agencies. The sub-TWCs will act as a committee to discuss matters around these regulations and policies when established. At the moment, there is no timeline established for the development of regulations due to the impacts of COVID-19.

Furthermore, for the preparation of national GHG inventories, sub-TWCs for each of the sectors of national GHG inventories will be established that mainly consist of government agencies and, to some extent, private sector stakeholders, with the objective to validate activity data and the estimates. They will also identify data gaps and propose options to address these gaps. The figure below illustrates the sub-TWC governance structure.

DATA COLLECTION: INTER-AGENCY TASKFORCE DRIVES COORDINATION

To consistently submit Singapore’s national communications (NC) and biennial update reports (BUR), Singapore needed to institutionalize a process to coordinate inputs from multiple government agencies that would fit into the reports. This issue arose because different agencies are responsible for collecting data for their respective sectors.

To enhance coordination, the MRV Taskforce was set up in 2011. It was tasked with the responsibility of coordinating inter-agency MRV efforts and overseeing the continuous preparation and submission of NCs and BURs. Further, the MRV Taskforce serves as a platform to discuss the roles and responsibilities of each agency, creating a clear process for the preparation of NCs and BURs.

DATA QUALITY & COLLECTION: DRIVING STAKEHOLDER COORDINATION

Up until 2015, there were no formal data collection procedures in place and there was still a lack of well-defined institutional arrangements and an absence of legal and formal procedures for the compilation of GHG emission inventories. The responsibility of collecting input data for the inventory fell on the individual sector compilers. Data is sourced from many institutes, associations, companies and ministerial branches. This led to challenges in accessing data and data gaps for estimating emissions for the energy, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), waste and agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors.

Another challenge faced with in the compilation of South Africa’s GHG inventory related to the availability of accurate activity data. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is in the process of implementing a project that will ensure easy accessibility of activity data. It has initiated a new programme called the National Greenhouse Gas Improvement Programme (GHGIP), which comprises a series of sector-specific projects that are targeting improvements in activity data, country-specific methodologies and emission factors used in the most significant sectors. The improvements achieved through this programme are documented in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd biennial update reports (BURs) of South Africa.

To tackle data related issues, the DEA developed a National Greenhouse Gas Inventory System (NGHGIS) in 2016. The NGHGIS requires that the DEA develops additional legal instruments, such as memorandum of understanding, to regulate the Department’s engagement with other institutions regarding 1) formalization of institutional and procedural arrangements; 2) alignment of government’s inventory processes; and 3) provision of dispute resolution mechanisms and protection of confidential data and information. Under the NGHGIS, the data collection templates and plans have been developed and the structure and formalization of these institutional arrangements was developed by the DEA. These plans were utilized in the process of preparing draft 2000-2017 GHG inventory which will be submitted as part of the fourth BUR in December 2020. A diagrammatic overview of the NGHGIS structure can be found in Figure 1 below.

Specific examples of how several challenges were addressed, particularly for energy and IPPU sectors are given below:

Energy Data

The main sources of data for the energy sector is the energy balance data compiled by the Department of Energy (DoE), and the data supplied by the main electricity provider, Eskom. With all previous GHG inventories, including the recently submitted 2000-2015 GHG inventory, there was no formal processes in place for requesting or obtaining this data. However, the DEA is in the process of finalizing a data sharing MoU with the DoE regarding the collection and provision of activity data for GHG inventory. The data sharing agreement has been developed and is currently in the process of being signed by both Departments.

IPPU Data

There was some formality in the collection of data for the IPPU sector. Information from industries was requested through the umbrella organization called Business Unity South Africa. The data collection process was further enhanced in April 2017 under the existing National Environmental Management Act: Air Quality (Act No. 39 of 2004). Under this Act, the DEA promulgated mandatory GHG regulations, whereby the industry must annually report their emissions to the DEA by the 31st of March, using the technical guidelines developed by the DEA for monitoring & reporting of GHG emissions from industry. The DEA now uses these regulations to report emissions from industry in a sustainable and transparent manner.  Currently, reporting is at a company level and the DEA is in the process of amending the regulations such that reporting is at a facility level. In this way, disaggregated data can be obtained from direct sources and higher tier methodologies can be used to improve the estimation of emissions for some categories.

Figure 1. Current NGHGIS Institutional Arrangements in South Africa

DATA QUALITY: ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS & COORDINATING INSTITUTIONS

In the preparation of previous national communications (NC) and biennial update reports (BUR), Togo faced challenges in accessing activity data in all sectors. Similarly, there was substantial missing activity data over a period of 2–3 years whereby splicing techniques (such as extrapolation, interpolation or surrogate methods) were used. Activity data in some sub-categories was unavailable; whereas in other sub-categories, such as civil aviation and navigation, activity data was available but difficult to access. A further challenge related to the format of collected data and the subsequent data archiving and management structures.

Togo took a two-pronged approach in addressing these challenges. Firstly, the Ministry of Environment organizes information exchange meetings with all relevant stakeholders involved in the data collection process. These meetings are used to explain the importance of preparing NCs and BURs in the fight against climate change in Togo. Following these meetings, the Minister of Environment sends official letters to all relevant ministries and other structures including the private sector and civil society organization involved in data collection activities.

The second approach involved nominating focal points across all structures providing activity data, and forming a steering committee comprised of these focal points, to facilitate activity data collection for GHG inventories and enhance other activities to be conducted under the project framework.

DATA QUALITY: BUILDING A LEAD AGENCY TO IMPROVE DATA QUALITY

The major challenge for Thailand is the completeness and quality of activity data used for the estimation of GHG emissions. This is because the objectives of data collection from relevant agencies are not specific for GHG emission estimation. A template for reporting activity data has been developed in consultation with the related agencies to improve data collection.

In industrial processes and product use (IPPU) sector, F-gas was not calculated as the existing data was not sufficient to cover the estimation algorithm. In order to obtain a more accurate GHG estimation, the activity data collection and recording system should be developed for more suitable usage in the future.

In land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector, the data collection process involves forestry group consisting of various organizations at provincial level. There was a gap in understanding of what constitutes activity data on forest areas and wood harvested. Thus, the leading agency of LULUCF sector will have to check the accuracy of the information collected, which takes a long time, before proceeding to the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions and removal.

To facilitate better data collection, the National Climate Change Committee (NCCC) established a GHG inventory system as part of the preparation of biennial update report in 2015 by. The process of preparing national GHG inventories consists of five steps as outlined below and illustrated in Figure 1.

1. The lead agencies of each sector (energy, IPPU, agriculture, LULUCF and waste) compile activity data from related stakeholders;
2. Lead agencies check and verify the data (quality assurance), before submitting it to the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), the national focal point to the UNFCCC;
3. ONEP and a team of experts estimate GHG emissions for all sectors based on the data provided by the lead agencies;
4. The results of this GHG emission estimation are submitted to five working groups, each consisting of appointed representatives from the five sectors. Each working group reviews the methodology of GHG emission estimation as part of the quality control procedure, to ensure that GHG emission estimates from their sectors are valid, accurate and complete. Following the approval by each working group, GHG inventories are submitted as part of the BUR to the Climate Change Knowledge and Database Sub-Committee for verification;
5. ONEP, as the secretariat of the NCCC, submits the BUR to the NCCC for approval before submission to the UNFCCC.

DATA COLLECTION: FOSTERING COORDINATION WITH A LEAD AGENCY

During the first years of work in compliance with Uruguay's commitments under the UNFCCC, inter-institutional coordination was limited. The tasks of collecting data and information from the competent institutions other than the Ministry of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment, were carried out by external consultants. To some extent, this situation has restricted the involved stakeholder’s timely access to necessary data for the preparation of national GHG inventory as well as access to the information on climate actions taken by the relevant institutions. Although these institutions held relevant data and, to some extent, developed mitigation and adaptation actions as part of their sectoral policies, they were not sufficiently aware of, nor involved in, the preparation of national reports. This limited the quality and completeness of the data required for Uruguay’s national reports.

To address this constraint, Uruguay established the inter-institutional working group under the National Climate Change Response System (SNRCC) which is mandated to prepare national GHG inventories. This working group integrates the Ministry of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, and the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries. Together, they are involved in progressing towards continuous and improved GHG inventory reporting. One key outcome of the working group is the National GHG Inventory System that displays information from each of the nine inventories already submitted by Uruguay.

The SNRCC has coordinated all national climate change policies, plans and actions since 2009. It has significantly enhanced the data flow and coordination necessary for the preparation of national reports. The SNRCC is chaired by the Ministry of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment and comprises of seven other Ministries (Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining; Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries; Ministry of Economy and Finance; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Public Health; Ministry of Tourism; and Ministry of National Defense), as well as the Office for Planning and Budget of the Presidency, the Congress of Majors and the National Emergency System. Recently the SNRCC elaborated the National Climate Change Policy, a new milestone focused on consolidating and integrating climate change into national development policies, and Uruguay’s first nationally determined contribution.

DATA QUALITY: ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS FOR DATA COLLECTION

The key pressing driver behind several issues, challenges, problems, and constraints that Yemen faced in preparing every part of national communication (NC) or biennial update report (BUR) was the ongoing war and continuing deterioration of Yemen’s political and security situation. This situation caused significant delay in implementing activities, including those related to field visits for surveys, data collection, and consultation with stakeholders. Furthermore, as a result of this situation, there has been a lack of recent accurate statistics and baseline data which are of importance for all teams to reflect the country’s ability to handle adaptation and mitigation measures.

Such national circumstances, with the multitude of challenges and barriers, have created several institutional, technical and management constraints in the creation and establishment of an effective MRV system in Yemen.

In attempting to grapple with these challenges, working teams under Yemen’s Third NC and First BUR were advised and encouraged to use all possible alternative ways to get in contact with stakeholders through emails and virtual communication for data collection, consultation and discussion, and feedback.

Teams were also encouraged to search for, and make use of, alternative relevant people from similar areas of pilot studies to conduct surveys and collect information. Although qualification and experience of these individuals is not as it should be, they managed to do the required job.  Therefore, the level of quality, accuracy, and accountability of data may not be as anticipated.

In terms of data availability and accuracy, national teams were encouraged to search for all available national and international data sources and share amongst all the teams, any data and information that became available. Informal arrangements were established with data providers through verbal communication, utilizing personal relations rather than official channels.