GHG inventory submissions and review

process under the UNFCCC

8th Joint UNECE TFEIP & EIONET Meeting

Astrid Olsson

Reporting, Data and Analysis Programme

UNFCCC Secretariat

aolsson@unfccc.int

Dublin, Ireland

23-24 October 2007

Overview

Background Inventory submissions Data handling Review process Other inventory related activities Resources

Background

Requirement in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for all Parties to develop, periodically update, publish and make available to the COP national inventories on GHG

The first COP (1995) decided that Annex I Parties shall submit a GHG inventory annually (on 15 April)

COP 5 (1999) decided that Annex I Parties’ GHG inventories shall be reviewed annually

Kyoto Protocol inventory submissions and review process build on the Convention, supplementary information to be reported and reviewed

Inventory submissions Submission due date 15 April – Grace period of six weeks Submission should contain CRF tables for the whole time-

series, NIR and XML-file Most Parties upload submissions on secretariat’s ftp-site Secretariat confirms receipt of submission with a list of what

has been received, including acknowledgement file Contact with Parties with questions/problems Submission saved on common drive Submission made available on the web Daily update of submissions to review officers and database

team Submissions tracked in the internal tracking system Same procedure for resubmissions

Data handling I With Excel spreadsheet submissions an extremely

resource intensive step in the submission/review process

CRF Reporter software faster data processing Platform to handle submissions data totally changed

in last two years more automated process, faster and less risk for human error

Submissions imported in database Contact with Party if questions/problems

Data handling II Preparation of data for products for the review process

• Initial checks

• Key category analysis

• S&A I (tables)

• Outliers (statistical tool)

• S&A II (identification of potential problems for individual Parties)

• Locator Data used for other secretariat publications

Review process I Starts on 15 April each year with the initial check – Status

report Synthesis and assessment part I, ready 10 weeks after

submission due date Synthesis and assessment part II, sent to Party 7 weeks prior

to review Individual reviews usually take place in September/October

• (Desk)• Centralized• In country

Strict deadlines for publication of report for each stage – deadlines differ between Convention and Kyoto Protocol

Party can comment reports at all three stages

Review process II Initial check

• Until 2007 manual process – labor intensive (0.5 day/Party+check)

• From 2007 partly automated process (checking 1-2 hrs/Party)

Synthesis and assessment part I

• Automatic preparation of tables

• Manual checking and formatting of tables

• Will be less labor intensive with better data handling procedures

Review process III Synthesis and assessment part II

• Partly automated (recalculations table, energy graph, headers)

• Review officer needs 2-2.5 days per Party Individual reviews

• Preparation

• Actual review 5-6 days – long days

• Help, advise and push experts to finalize draft reports within established deadlines

Review process IV

Lot of work “behind the scenes”• Prepare review teams (~January)• Prepare and send invitation – approximately 130

experts (~April/May)• Coordinate logistics with Parties for in-country

reviews (venue, schedule, hotel, set up etc.)• Prepare and send CDs with materials for review

teams• Communication with experts/Parties prior to and

after actual review week

Other inventory related activities I

Review officers support other activities as well:• Development of in-house tools for review• Development of CRF Reporter• Preparation and conducting meeting of lead reviewers• Training of new review experts (both Convention and

Kyoto Protocol) – Mandatory for new experts to pass training and exams

• Negotiations in the Subsidiary body for technological and scientific advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary body for implementation (SBI), COP and COP/MOP on issues related to GHG inventories and national communications

Other inventory related activities II

Review officers support other activities as well:

• IPCC good practice guidance, IPCC good practice guidance for LULUCF and the 2006 IPCC guidelines

• IPCC Emission Factors Database (EFDB)

• Cooperation with other Conventions and Protocols

• Cooperation with international organization on data for reviews

Resources I

Inventory submissions

• One person (~ 15 min/Party and submission) GHG database

• 1 team leader, 3 programme officers and 1 assistant full time

• Development of CRF Reporter• Development of in-house tools• With current automation of procedures will be

less in future

Resources II

Reviews (inventories, national communications)

• 1 manager, 7 programme officers full time, 5 assistants part time

• Preparation of reviews• Conducting reviews• Support negotiations• Other activities as required