18/08/2010

The European Union (EU) as a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reports annually its greenhouse gas inventory for the year t-2 and within the area covered by its Member States. The inventory also constitutes the EU-15 submission under the Kyoto Protocol. The EU greenhouse gas inventory is the most relevant and accurate source of information on greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, and serves to monitor all anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. The inventory contains data on carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). The EU inventory is fully consistent with national greenhouse gas inventories compiled by the EU Member States.

Data are compiled according to UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories.

The allocation of different source/sink categories should follow the split of the Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and the IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry.

Article 12.1(a) of the UNFCC Convention requires that each Party shall communicate to the COP, through the secretariat, inter alia, a national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. As a minimum requirement, inventories shall contain information on the following greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). Annex I Parties should report anthropogenic emissions and removals of any other greenhouse gases whose 100-year global warming potential (GWP) values have been identified by the IPCC and adopted by the COP. Annex I Parties shall use the IPCC Guidelines to estimate and report on anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. In preparing national inventories of these gases, Annex I Parties shall also use the IPCC good practice guidance in order to improve transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness and accuracy.

Data are reported by countries according the UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories and following the IPCC Guidelines and Good Practice Guidance.

All anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer in the Member State.

EU Member States as defined in DECISION No 280/2004/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 February 2004 concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol.

1990 to latest reported inventory year (t-2)

The year 1990 should be the base year for the estimation and reporting of inventories. According to the provisions of Article 4, paragraph 6 of the Convention and decisions 9/CP.2 and 11/CP.4, a number of Annex I Parties that are undergoing the process of transition to a market economy are allowed to use a base year or a period of years other than 1990. 'Base years' have been fixed for the purpose of compliance with reduction commitments by the Party under the Kyoto Protocol. Following the UNFCCC reviews of  EU Member States' 'initial reports under the Kyoto Protocol' during 2007 and 2008 and pursuant to Article 3, Paragraphs 7 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol,  the base-year emissions for the EU-15 have been fixed to 4 265.5 Mt CO2- equivalent. The EU-27 does not have a Kyoto target and an aggregated 'base year' for the EU-27 is therefore not applicable in any discussion of progress towards Kyoto targets.

Greenhouse gas emissions and removals should be presented on a gas-by-gas basis in units of mass with emissions by sources listed separately from removals by sinks. In addition, consistent with decision 2/CP.3, Annex I Parties should report aggregate emissions and removals of greenhouse gases, expressed in CO2 equivalent terms at summary inventory level (i.e. table Summary 1.A of the common reporting format) using GWP values provided by the IPCC in its Second Assessment Report, based on the effects of greenhouse gases over a 100-year time horizon. Annex I Parties should also report actual emissions of HFCs, PFCs and SF6 in units of mass and in CO2 equivalents.

The official submission by an Annex I Party of its greenhouse gas inventory to the UNFCCC in year t shall cover all anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol in the year t-2.

Council Decision No. 280/2004/EC 'concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol' provides the legal basis for the compilation of the EU greenhouse gas inventory to the UNFCCC. The 'EU inventory system' ensures the accuracy, comparability, consistency, completeness and timeliness of national inventories with regard to the EU greenhouse gas inventory. The main institutions involved in the compilation of the EU greenhouse gas inventory are the EU Member States, the European Commission Directorate General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA), the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC), Eurostat, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). Within the EU inventory system, the EEA and its ETC ACC are responsible for the annual compilation of the EU inventory and for the implementation of the EC QA/QC Programme. The European Commission has overall responsibility - official submission to the UNFCCC on behalf of the EU by 15 April every year. Eurostat is responsible for the IPCC reference approach for CO2 emissions from energy combustion. The JRC is responsible for the chapters related to agriculture and LULUCF. See inventory report for a detailed description of the institutional arrangements for the preparation of the EU greenhouse gas inventory.

The legal basis for the compilation of the EU inventory is Council Decision No. 280/2004/EC concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. The purpose of this decision is:
1. to monitor all anthropogenic GHG emissions covered by the Kyoto Protocol in the Member States;
2. to evaluate progress towards meeting GHG reduction commitments under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol;
3. to implement UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol obligations relating to national programmes, greenhouse gas inventories, national systems and registries of the EU and its Member States, and the relevant procedures under the Kyoto Protocol;
4. to ensure the timeliness, completeness, accuracy, consistency, comparability and transparency of reporting by the EU and its Member States to the UNFCCC secretariat. The reporting requirements for the Member States under Council Decision 280/2004/EC are elaborated in the Commission Decision 2005/166/EC laying down rules implementing Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol.

The main institutions involved in the compilation of the EU greenhouse gas inventory are the EU Member States, the European Commission Directorate General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA), the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC), Eurostat, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The Climate Change Committee, made up of all EU Member States, assists the European Commission in its tasks under Council Decision No 280/2004/EC. Within the EU inventory system, the EEA and its ETC ACC are responsible for the annual compilation of the EU inventory and for the implementation of the EU QA/QC Programme. The European Commission has overall responsibility - official submission to the UNFCCC on behalf of the EU by 15 April every year. Eurostat is responsible for the IPCC reference approach for CO2 emissions from energy combustion. The JRC is responsible for the chapters related to agriculture and LULUCF. Each Member State is responsible for the preparation of its own national greenhouse gas inventory which is the basis for the inventory of the European Union. A description of the institutional arrangements for the preparation of the EU greenhouse gas inventory can be found in the inventory report.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Data are public.

The final submission of the EU greenhouse gas inventory to the UNFCCC is 27 May of every year. Publication by the EEA follows within a week from its official submission.

See EEA website at http://www.eea.europa.eu/

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Dissemination format') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Users can subscribe and get notifications on new reports and products via the EEA website (subscriptions tab). In addition, the European environment information and observation network (Eionet) - a partnership network of the EEA and its member and cooperating countries - is the main communication vehicle with national administrations. The EEA is responsible for developing the network and coordinating its activities. To do this, the EEA works closely together with the National Focal Points (NFPs), typically national environment agencies or environment ministries in the member countries. The NFPs are responsible for coordinating networks of the National Reference Centres (NRCs), bringing altogether around 900 experts from over 300 national institutions and other bodies dealing with environmental information. The press release on the EU greenhouse gas inventory to the UNFCCC  is also sent to a network of approximately 10,000 journalists world wide.

Yearly data, once a year

News releases on-line.

Both the EEA and the European Commission publish press releases coinciding with the publication of the EU greenhouse gas inventory to the UNFCCC.

The EU Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Inventory Report represents the official submission of the EU to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The data is also used to track the EU's performance in relation to reducing greenhouse gas emissions within its territory, which is the basis for assessing progress towards meeting Kyoto targets.

Please consult free data on-line or refer to contact details.

The EEA 'greenhouse gas data viewer' provides easy access of the data contained in the annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory and inventory report to the UNFCCC. The data are available by IPCC sector, type of gas, country and year.  http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/PivotApp/pivot.aspx?pivotid=475

All data underpinning the EU greenhouse gas inventory to the UNFCCC are available from the EEA website as Annexes to the report.

The European Commission's own press release on the EU greenhouse gas inventory to the UNFCCC is one of the most important additional sources of dissemination.

The EU greenhouse gas inventory is compiled in accordance with the recommendations for inventories set out in the 'UNFCCC guidelines for the preparation of national communications by parties included in Annex 1 to the Convention, Part 1: UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories' (FCCC/SBSTA/2004/8), to the extent possible. In addition, the Revised IPCC 1996 guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories have been applied as well as the IPCC Good practice guidance and uncertainty management in national greenhouse gas inventories, where appropriate and feasible. The reporting requirements for the Member States under Council Decision 280/2004/EC are elaborated in the Commission Decision 2005/166/EC laying down rules implementing Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. According to the Council decision and the Commission decision the reporting requirements are exactly the same as for the UNFCCC, regarding content and format.

Information on the quality assurance and quality control plan can be found in the annual inventory report. The EU QA/QC programme describes the quality objectives and the inventory quality assurance and quality control plan for the EU GHG inventory including responsibilities and the time schedule for the performance of the QA/QC procedures. Definitions of quality assurance, quality control and related terms used are those provided in IPCC Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and Guidelines for National Systems under the Kyoto Protocol. The European Environment Agency (EEA) is responsible for the annual implementation of QA/QC procedures for the EU inventory.
The overall objectives of the EU QA/QC programme are:

• to provide an EU inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and removals consistent with the sum of Member States' inventories of greenhouse gas emissions and removals,
• to establish appropriate QA/QC procedures at EU level in order to comply with requirements under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol,
• to contribute to the improvement of quality of Member States' inventories and
• to provide assistance for the implementation of national QA/QC programmes. 

See thorough description of the quality assurance and quality control plan of the EU greenhouse gas inventory in chapter 1.6 of the inventory report.

See thorough description of the quality assurance and quality control plan of the EU greenhouse gas inventory in chapter 1.6 of the inventory report.

User needs are broadly captured by legal obligations related to compliance with UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol as well as with the relevant Council and Commission Decisions.

The annual review of Annex I Parties' greenhouse gas inventories by 'expert review teams' makes sure inventories are transparent, accurate, complete, consistent and comparable and are compiled according to UNFCCC and IPCC guidelines. This in turn ensures further improvements of national greenhouse gas inventories by the Parties.

According to UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines, national greenhouse gas inventories should be transparent, consistent, comparable, complete and accurate. 'Completeness' means that an inventory covers all sources and sinks, as well as all gases, included in the IPCC Guidelines as well as other existing relevant source/sink categories which are specific to individual Annex I Parties and, therefore, may not be included in the IPCC Guidelines. Completeness also means full geographic coverage of sources and sinks of an Annex I Party.

According to UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines, national greenhouse gas inventories should be transparent, consistent, comparable, complete and accurate. 'Accuracy' is a relative measure of the exactness of an emission or removal estimate. Estimates should be accurate in the sense that they are systematically neither over nor under true emissions or removals, as far as can be judged, and that uncertainties are reduced as far as practicable. Appropriate methodologies should be used, in accordance with the IPCC good practice guidance, to promote accuracy in inventories.

Annex I Parties shall use the IPCC Guidelines to estimate and report on anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. In preparing national inventories of these gases, Annex I Parties shall also use the IPCC good practice guidance in order to improve transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness and accuracy. In accordance with the IPCC Guidelines, Annex I Parties may use different methods (tiers) included in those guidelines, giving priority to those methods which, according to the decision trees in the IPCC good practice guidance, produce more accurate estimates. For a thorough description of sector-specific methodological choice see IPCC good practice guidance http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/english/

For a thorough description of sector-specific methodological choice see IPCC good practice guidance http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/english/

The procedures and time scales for the compilation of the EU greenhouse gas inventory and inventory report are described in Annex VI of the Commission Decision of 10 February 2005 laying down rules implementing Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol (2005/166/EC).

The procedures and time scales for the compilation of the EU greenhouse gas inventory and inventory report are described in Annex VI of the Commission Decision of 10 February 2005 laying down rules implementing Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol (2005/166/EC).

According to UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines, national greenhouse gas inventories should be transparent, consistent, comparable, complete and accurate. 'Comparability' means that estimates of emissions and removals reported by Annex I Parties in inventories should be comparable among Annex I Parties. For this purpose, Annex I Parties should use the methodologies and formats agreed by the COP for estimating and reporting inventories. The allocation of different source/sink categories should follow the split of the Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, and the IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, at the level of its summary and sectoral tables.

According to UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines, national greenhouse gas inventories should be transparent, consistent, comparable, complete and accurate. 'Consistency' means that an inventory should be internally consistent in all its elements with inventories of other years. An inventory is consistent if the same methodologies are used for the base and all subsequent years and if consistent data sets are used to estimate emissions or removals from sources or sinks. Under certain circumstances an inventory using different methodologies for different years can be considered to be consistent if it has been recalculated in a transparent manner, in accordance with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry.

The EU greenhouse gas inventory to UNFCCC is fully consistent with Member States own submissions to the UNFCCC and represents the only official source of greenhouse gas emissions within the EU territory to track progress towards the EU's Kyoto and 2020 targets. There are significant differences with environment accounting (NAMEA). National emission totals under the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol do not include emissions and removals from LULUCF; nor do they include emissions from international aviation and international maritime transport. CO2 emissions from biomass with energy recovery are reported as a Memorandum item according to UNFCCC Guidelines and not included in national greenhouse gas totals.

One of the principles of national greenhouse gas emission inventories is 'consistency' - meaning that an inventory should be internally consistent in all its elements with inventories of other years. An inventory is consistent if the same methodologies are used for the base and all subsequent years and if consistent data sets are used to estimate emissions or removals from sources or sinks. This is ensured by the establishment of stringent quality control and quality assurance procedures, internal EU reviews and independent expert review teams coordinated by the UNFCCC.

Not estimated

One of the objectives of the UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories is to facilitate the process of verification, technical assessment and expert review of the inventory information. According to UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines, national greenhouse gas inventories should be transparent, consistent, comparable, complete and accurate. 'Transparency' means that the assumptions and methodologies used for an inventory should be clearly explained to facilitate replication and assessment of the inventory by users of the reported information. Annex I Parties should implement QA procedures by conducting a basic expert peer review (tier 1 QA) of their inventories in accordance with IPCC good practice guidance. Annex I Parties are also encouraged to report on any peer review of their inventory conducted nationally. All this information should allow reconstruction of the inventory by the Expert Review Teams, inter alia.  A collaborative internal review mechanism has been established within the European Union to allow all participants (member states, EEA, Eurostat, and JRC) to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the EU greenhouse gas inventory.

According to Decision 22/CMP.1, each inventory submitted under the Kyoto Protocol will be subject to a thorough technical review by an ERT to assess whether the inventory has been prepared in conformity with the IPCC good practice guidance and reporting requirements.
The inventory review has two stages - the initial check stage and the individual review stage. During the initial check stage, the inventory will be assessed for timeliness and completeness, and a draft status report prepared and sent to the Party for comment. Upon finalization, the status report will be forwarded to the Compliance Committee for its consideration.
During the individual review stage, the ERT will examine the emission and removal estimates and the methodologies used in order to determine whether the IPCC good practice guidance and IPCC good practice guidance for LULUCF have been applied. It will prepare a draft review report, which will be provided to the Party concerned for comment. Once the report has been finalized, it will be forwarded to the Compliance Committee.

See UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/items/3595.php#beg; Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gl/invs1.html; and, Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/english/

See UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/items/3595.php#beg; Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gl/invs1.html; and, Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/english/

See UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/items/3595.php#beg; Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gl/invs1.html; and, Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/english/

See UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/items/3595.php#beg; Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gl/invs1.html; and, Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/english/

See UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/items/3595.php#beg; Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gl/invs1.html; and, Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/english/

See UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/items/3595.php#beg; Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gl/invs1.html; and, Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/english/

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