Inventory Quality Assurance: Comprehensive Guidance Report

1. Volume I General Guidance and Reporting Bonn, 18 may 2006 Newton PaciornikMinistry of Science and Technology of Brazil

2. General Guidance Development • Built on GPG 2000 and GPG LULUCF • Quantifying uncertainties in practice • Methodological choice (key sources) • Recalculation • Quality Control / Quality Assurance • 2006 Guidelines • Introductory section on GHG inventories and steps needed for preparation • Extended advice on data collection

3. Inventory Quality – Good Practice • Transparency • sufficient and clear documentation • possible replication • Completeness • all categories of sources and sinks • all gases • geographical coverage • missing elements clearly documented and justified

4. Inventory Quality – Good Practice • Consistency • differences between different years estimations should reflect real changes • careful treatment of methodological changes • Comparability (among countries) • classification and definition of categories of emissions and removals • use of reporting guidance and tables

5. Inventory Quality – Good Practice • Accuracy • emissions and removals are neither over- nor underestimates so far as can be judged and in which uncertainties are reduced as far as practicable

6. Estimation Methods – Basic concepts • Tiers • Methods are presented in 3 tiers • Tier 1 – Basic method using available national and international statistics and default emission factors • Tier 2 – Intermediate method using country specific data • Tier 3 – Higher complexity methods with more demanding data requirements and generally more accurate

7. Estimation methods – Basic concepts • Key categories approach • used to identify categories that have a significant influence on a country’s GHG inventory in terms of level, trend or uncertainty of emissions and removals • Decision trees • help in selection of appropriate tiered methodology based on assessment of key categories

8. Compiling an Inventory General Guidance • Data collection • Data collection planning • Using existing data • Generating new data • Emission factors and direct measurements • Activity data • Expert elicitation and surveys

9. Compiling an Inventory General Guidance • Uncertainty assessment • Conceptual basis • Causes of uncertainty • Reducing uncertainty • Quantifying uncertainties • Combining uncertainties

10. Compiling an Inventory General Guidance • Key category analysis • Basis for methodological choice and prioritizing resources • General approach (level and trend) • Guidance on disaggregation level • Approach 1 (level contribution) • Approach 2 (level +uncertainty) • Qualitative criteria

11. Compiling an Inventory General Guidance • Time series consistency • Methods for ensuring time-series consistency in cases where it is not possible to use the same method/data for the entire period • Guidance in recalculation of estimates for previous years • Resolving data gaps

12. Compiling an Inventory General Guidance • Quality assurance/Quality control • Developing a QA/QC plan • QC procedures • assess and maintain quality during inventory compilation • QA procedures • review procedures by external personnel • Verification procedures • external methods and data

13. Compiling an Inventory General Guidance • Precursors and indirect N2O • Cross-sectoral guidance • Link to EMEP/Corinair • Indirect N2O from atmospheric deposition of NOx and NH3

14. Compiling an Inventory General Guidance • Reporting • Coverage – category definition • Notation keys • Units • Reporting tables • Annual inventory • Trend tables by gas • Uncertainties and key categories tables