Greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting under the UNFCCC process 5th session of the Joint Task Force on Environmental Indicators Geneva, 4-6 July 2012 Hinko Vincar, Team Lead of Data Services Unit Mitigation, Data and Analysis (MDA) programme UNFCCC secretariat

INTRODUCTION The ultimate objective of the Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) is to achieve stabilization of GHG concentrations that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Estimating the levels of GHG emissions and removals is an important element of the efforts to achieve this objective. Parties to the Convention are required to submit their national reports. The required contents of these communications and the timetable for their submission are different for Annex I (AI) and non-Annex I (NAI) Parties.  Annex I Parties include the industrialized countries that were members of the OECD in 1992, plus countries with economies in transition (EIT);  Non-Annex I Parties are mostly developing countries.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR ANNEX I PARTIES Annex I Parties under the Convention need to submit:  National GHG inventories which contain information on GHG emissions and methodologies used to estimate these emissions, annually;  National communications (NC) which contain, inter alia, information on GHG emissions, periodically. Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (KP) need to submit annually supplementary information in addition to the national GHG inventory:  KP-LULUCF (land use, land-use change and forestry) tables on the use of Articles 3.3 (afforestation, reforestation and deforestation) and 3.4 (forest management, cropland management, grazing land management and revegetation);  Holdings of and transactions of KP units in the Standard Electronic Format (SEF);  Changes in national registries;  Changes in national systems for emission accounting;  Minimization of adverse effects under Article 3.14 (adverse effects and response measures).

METHODOLOGIES AND GUIDELINES FOR ANNEX I PARTIES For national GHG inventories, the key methodological documents are:  Updated UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories following incorporation of the provisions of Decision 14/CP.11 (FCCC/SBSTA/2006/9);  UNFCCC guidelines for the technical review of greenhouse gas inventories (FCCC/CP/2002/8);  Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National GHG Inventories;  IPCC Good Practice Guidance (GPG) and Uncertainty Management in National GHG Inventories;  IPCC GPG for LULUCF. For national communications, the key methodological documents are:  Guidelines for the preparation of national communications: UNFCCC reporting guidelines on national communications (FCCC/CP/1999/7).

ConventionKyoto Protocol (KP) GHG inventoryNCGHG inventoryNC Reporting Mandates (Convention): Art. 4.1 and 12 + FCCC guidelines Mandates (KP): Art. 5, /CMP.1 + 6/CMP.3 Meth. guidance=IPCC: 1996 Guidelines 2000 GPG 2003 GPG/LULUCF Annually: data (CRF) methods (NIR) Overview/synthesis: annual SA-I report annual GHG data report annual status report Periodically (3-5 ys): Nat’l circumstances GHG inventory P&Ms, GHG projections Funding and TT V&A, R&O, Art.6 Overview/synthesis: periodic C&S report Suppl. info (Art.7.1): LULUCF for Art.3.3, 3.4 accounting (SEF) changes in NS and NR info on 3.14 One-time reports: Initial report True-up period report Overview/synthesis: annual C&A report Suppl. info (Art.7.2): NS and NR supplementarity, P&Ms (incl. Art.2.3) Inst. KP arrangements Art.10 (incl.TT&CB) Art.11 (funding) One-time reports: Demonstrable progress Overview/synthesis: periodic C&S report Review Mandates (Convention): Art.12 +FCCC guidelines Mandates (KP): Art /CMP.1 Key features: Annual technical review By international ERTs Synthesis reports to SBI Key features: In-depth review in two years from submission By international ERTs Synthesis reports to SBI Key features: Conjunction with annual Convention reviews Once for one-time reports Adjustments/corrections Special: expedited review Synthesis reports to SBI Key features: Conjunction with periodic Convention reviews Once for one-time reports Synthesis reports to SBI Compliance Mandates (KP): Art /CMP.1 (Compliance Committee) Issues => action: reporting => eligibility methods => adjustments targets => eligibility targets => penalty for CP2 some issues => facilitation Issues => action: reporting => facilitation SUMMARY OF REPORTING AND REVIEW FOR ANNEX I PARTIES UNDER CONVENTION AND KP

REPORTING (NC) FOR NON-ANNEX I PARTIES The key methodological documents are:  Guidelines for the preparation of national communications from non-Annex I Parties (FCCC/CP/2002/7/Add.2, Decision 17/CP.8 and its annex);  Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National GHG Inventories;  IPCC GPG and Uncertainty Management in National GHG Inventories;  IPCC GPG for LULUCF. Non-Annex I Parties submit periodically national communications (NC) which contain, inter alia, information on GHG emissions.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS The second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol will start on 1 January 2013 (FCCC/KP/CMP/2011/10/Add.1, Decision 1/CMP.7). Exact technical modalities for the second commitment period are being developed. Use of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines by Annex I Parties starting in 2015 (FCCC/CP/2011/9/Add.2, Decision 15/CP.17 and FCCC/KP/CMP/2011/10/Add.1, Decision 4/CMP.7). Submission of Biennial Reports (BR) and International Assessment and Review (IAR) for Annex I Parties starting from 1 January 2014 (FCCC/CP/2010/7/Add.1, Decision 1/CP.16 and FCCC/CP/2011/9/Add.1, Decision 2/CP.17). Submission of Biennial Update Reports (BUR) by non-Annex I Parties starting from December 2014, subject to availability of funding. International Consultation and Analysis (ICA) to commence within 6 months of submission of BUR. (FCCC/CP/ 2010/7/Add.1, Decision 1/CP.16 and FCCC/CP/2011/9/Add.1, Decision 2/CP.17)

CHALLENGES There are indications of continued need to support and increase capacity for Annex I EIT Parties to estimate well their GHG emissions, for example:  Questions of implementation related to the national system implementation resulted in withdrawal of the eligibility to participate in the market-based mechanisms  Bulgaria: 28 June 2010 and reinstated on 4 February 2011  Ukraine: 12 October 2011 and reinstated on 9 March 2012  Romania: 27 August 2011  Lithuania: 21 December 2011 Some general reporting issues reported by non-Annex I Parties include: financial, technical and institutional constraints; a lack of institutional arrangement on continuous basis; a lack of sufficient data; and a limited number of national experts. to be considered for reinstatement at 20th meeting of the enforcement branch (9-14 July 2012)

USE OF GHG DATA REPORTED UNDER UNFCCC GHG data used by:  UNFCCC  COP/MOP  Compliance Committee  Other organizations  UNSD o UNdata portal ( o MDG report (  IEA, etc.  General public  UNFCCC GHG data interface (

GHG DATA INTERFACE The GHG data interface ( is a simple but powerful and user-friendly online tool that is designed to provide access to, search and sort available GHG inventory data submitted by countries that are Parties to the UNFCCC. Elements of the data interface:  GHG data – UNFCCC: contains most recent GHG data as reported by Parties to the Convention, including detailed data by Party, comparison by gas and category, flexible queries, user-defined indicators and the global map;  KP data – UNFCCC: contains GHG data specifically related to the Kyoto Protocol as reported by Annex I Parties that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol;  GHG data – non-UNFCCC: contains links to websites of other organizations that provided GHG data;  Online help: contains explanatory information in the use of the data interface.

USER-DEFINED INDICATORS

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