CGE Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Hands-on Training Workshop

for the African Region

- Building an Inventory Management System -

Pretoria, South Africa

18-22 September 2006

Michael Gillenwater

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 What is an GHG Inventory
Program for?
▪ Meet international obligations and expectations
▪ Inform international, national, & local policy making
▪ Enhance credibility of national climate policies
through timely, transparent, and effective analysis &
communication
▪ Foster consistent estimation approaches across
government & private sector programs
▪ Respond to requests for information
▪ Champion for high quality & objective inventory
information

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 What is quality?
▪ Transparency
▪ Completeness
▪ Comparability
▪ Consistency
▪ Accuracy

Transparency is the most fundamental. If you

do not document, then there is no way to
demonstrate any of the other principles have
been met.

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 Who cares?

▪ A wide audience of stakeholders...

▪ Decision makers & policy advisors
▪ International climate change community
▪ Provincial & local agencies
▪ The public & interest groups
▪ Businesses
▪ Scientists

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 National government
▪ Are national inventories verifiable?
▪ What are current & projected emissions and
removals from key industries?
▪ What are the effects of existing or planned
policies and measures (including policies that
aggravate emissions)?
▪ Is there consensus among government agencies
and key stakeholders on our emission estimates?
▪ What are the relationships between reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and other
environmental pollutants?

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 International community
▪ What is the your country’s contribution to
global emissions and removals?
▪ Are your GHG estimates credible and
transparent?
▪ Is your country meeting its UNFCCC
obligations?

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 Businesses & NGOs
▪ How do we quantify and get credit for activities that
reduce emissions or sequester carbon?
▪ What activities, industries, companies, or policies
have been responsible for significant increases or
decreases in GHG emissions or removals?

Scientists
▪ What are the priorities for research and
measurement?
▪ What are the scientific uncertainties in the emission
and sink estimates?

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 Linkages
Research & international
Trading and projects
scientific community

Domestic emission LU/LUCF

reduction programs (Sinks policies)
Inventory
Program
Negotiations Corporate, regional, &
& IPCC other inventories

Interest groups Emission projections, climate

& the public & economic modeling

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 Inventory management
systems should...
▪ Ensure inventory processes are in compliance with
COP decisions (i.e., Non-Annex I Party National
Communications)
▪ Define and apply appropriate procedures for
collecting, processing, communicating, and
archiving inventory data & information
▪ Coordinate with relevant ministries, agencies, and
other organizations
▪ Provide inventory reports regularly
▪ Ensure the quality of inventory data

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 Inventory management system

1. Inventory planning
2. Inventory preparation
3. Inventory management

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 Inventory planning
▪ Establish national inventory agency
▪ Assign responsibilities for inventory preparation and
management
▪ Develop schedule
▪ Make arrangements to collect data from statistical
agencies, companies, industry associations, etc.
▪ Create QA/QC plan
▪ Define formal approval process within government
▪ Develop review processes
▪ Integrate continuous improvement

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Example: U.S. Inventory Schedule

Oct - Nov Late December

April - September April 15th
Mid
October Nov - Dec Jan - Feb

Respond to Incorporate
Gather data and prepare interagency public
Prepare draft
initial estimates comments comments
report

Expert and Release for Submit

interagency public Inventory
review comment to UN

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 Inventory preparation
▪ Identify key categories
▪ Select methods and emission factors
(e.g., GPG decision trees)
▪ Collect activity data
▪ Manage recalculations
▪ Implement QA/QC plan
▪ Basic checks should be completed on entire inventory
(Tier 1) (see GPG Ch. 8)
▪ More in-depth investigations into key sources (Tier 2)
▪ Documentation

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 Key categories
▪ A key category has a significant influence on a
country’s total inventory in terms of level or trend
in emissions (GPG, Ch.7)
▪ A key category may also be determined through
a qualitative assessment.
▪ A key category is one that is prioritized within the
national inventory system
▪ In general, countries should focus on key
categories for resources and improvements

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 Inventory management
▪ Implement inventory review processes (e.g., expert
review, public review)
▪ Obtain formal approval of final results and report
within government
▪ Submit report to UNFCCC
▪ Make inventory information available to stakeholders
and respond to information requests
▪ Archive all documentation and results
▪ Continuous improvement feedback

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 Uncertainty
▪ Uncertainty analysis is a subjective exercise, as
it relies to a large extent on expert judgment
▪ Therefore, it is not a valid basis to compare
inventories between countries
▪ Uncertainty analysis should be used as a way to
investigate the quality of your inventory data and
identify ways to improve data quality
▪ You achieve by communicating with data
suppliers (e.g., statistical agencies)
Uncertainty investigations should be integrated
within your QA/QC plan!

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 Resources
▪ IPCC Guidelines
▪ Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines
▪ IPCC Good Practice Guidance
▪ IPCC LULUCF GPG
▪ New 2006 IPCC Guidelines
▪ UNFCCC reporting guidelines
▪ IPCC Emission Factor Database (EFDB)
▪ IPCC software
▪ NCSP booklet on "Managing the GHG inventories
process (March 2005)

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Other resources…
▪Inventory reports from other
Parties
UNFCCC website/GHG Data
www.unfccc.int

▪Inventory related reports from

other Parties

▪GHG Inventory Experts Network

www.ghgnetwork.org

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 Closing remarks…
▪ A greenhouse gas inventory is more than just a
report. It should be viewed as an broader
analytical program.
▪ A “cookbook” approach to developing a GHG
inventory is not practical. There will always be a
large and essential need for expert judgment at
all levels of the process.
▪ A well constructed inventory should include
enough documentation to allow readers to
understand the underlying assumptions and to
reconstruct the calculations.

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Please feel free to email me in
the future:
Michael Gillenwater
gillenwater@alum.mit.edu

– Thank you –

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ACTIVITY DATA Collect data on transportation
to US
fuel combustion, including fuel
consumed by jets and sailing EPA

to US vessels travelling
EPA internationally.
Federal Highway
Bureau of the Administration
Census, Dept.
The DoD maintains data of Commerce
on fuel consumption for Center for Transportation
the military. Data is
usually acquired via
communications with
Analysis, ORNL, Dept. of
Energy Flow of
ENERGY
each branch.

Bureau of Economic
Analysis, Dept. of
Energy
Mobile
Department of
Defense
Commerce
Combustion
Federal Aviation
Administration Data
Bureau of
Transportation Compile data on vehicle numbers
Statistics, Dept. of and types and provide estimates for
domestic transportation fuel
Transportation
consumption.
International
Bunker Fuels

The EIA publishes a variety of

monthly and annual reports and
EIA, Dept. of
The EIA collects national and
worldwide fuel production and
consumption data for all energy-
Energy
maintains databases which are
accessible via the Web. EPA
US EPA

related activities, including Provide mine-specific

stationary combustion. Mining
Energy Use historical information
Companies
about methane gas-
recovery and gas
Coal Mining usage.

Mine Safety and

Petroleum Health Administration
and Natural
Gas
State Petroleum and
Natural Gas Supply information about
Agencies mine-specific ventialtion
systems and gas sales
Minerals
Industry data.
Management
Journals
Service, Dept. of
Interior
Petroleum and Natural Gas
Industry Associations, Trade
US EPA, National Risk Groups, and Review Panels
Research Management Provide information about
Research Laboratory natural gas and petroleum
industries, including
production, infrastructure
statistics, and consumption.

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 Emission Inventory Basics
▪ An emission inventory is an accounting of the amount
of air pollutants discharged into the atmosphere. It is
generally characterized by the following factors:
▪ The chemical or physical identity of the pollutants
included
▪ The geographic area covered
▪ The institutional entities covered
▪ The time period over which emissions are
estimated
▪ The types of activities that cause emissions

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 Inventory Agency
Responsibilities
▪ A single national entity to be responsible for the overall
inventory
▪ Arrangements with collaborating entities that contribute data,
research, estimate emissions or provide expert reviews
▪ Define legal authority to collect and disseminate data
necessary for the preparation of the inventory
▪ Ensure inventory processes are in compliance with COP
decisions
▪ Define and apply procedures for collecting data, preparing
inventory, communicating results, submitting report, and
archiving
▪ Liaise among government departments, national agencies,
▪ Ensure the implementation of QA/QC

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 Goals

 Develop high quality inventory at regular intervals (e.g.,

annually, every 2-4 years, etc).
 Resources are focused on the most significant
emission sources in the country

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 Atmospheric Concentrations
370 Keeling and Whorf, 1999 Kalil and Rasmussen, 1994.
Mauna Loa, Hawaii 1,700 Record from six globally
350 CO2 CH4 distributed locations.
1,500

330
1,300
ppmv

ppbv
Etheridge, Pearman,
310 Neftel, et al., 1994. and Fraiser, 1994.
1,100
Siple Station ice core Law Dome ice core.
290 900

270 700
1740 1790 1840 1890 1940 1990 1830 1870 1910 1950 1990

SF6
3
pptv

2
Sturges et al.,
Dome Concordia, 2000
1

0
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Source: CDIAC

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