Introduction
For Post 68 we asked Climate Scorecard Country Managers to report on the status of their country’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory, and describe the organizations responsible for organizing its data. Countries signing the Paris Agreement and agreeing to be members of UNFCCC were asked to compile a regular inventory of their country’s greenhouse gas emissions. So who does this work in each country and how is it going? These are the questions we try to answer in Climate Scorecard Global Post 68. Specifically we asked our Country Managers to address the following points:
a) How often does the country release an inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions? Is it a public document? How do people get a hold of it?
b) Does the country do its own inventory or rely on external sources of data? (If so please specify the external sources).
c) What organization(s) is responsible for compiling and releasing the country’s GHG inventory reports? How is the information compiled? Who submits the data? Provide names of key personnel responsible for managing the Inventory and their contact information.
d) What is the latest date when the country’s last GG inventory was released? How often are new inventories released? If the country’s inventory is out of date (more than one year old) or released in an inconsistent way, why does this happen?
Ratings:
- A: Excellent Progress
- B: Moderate Progress
- C: Standing Still
- D: Falling Behind
The table below provides a summary of country efforts to produce timely and comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventories and the rating given to it. Complete Country reports follow.
Ratings Summary:
- A: Australia, Brazil, Germany, India
- B: France, Japan, Turkey, United States
- C: Canada, European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Spain
- D: Saudi Arabia
Table: Country Efforts to Produce Timely and Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories
| Country | Rating and Impact |
| Australia |
|
| Brazil |
|
| Canada |
|
| European Union |
|
| France |
|
| Germany |
|
| India |
|
| Indonesia |
|
| Japan |
|
| Mexico |
|
| Saudi Arabia |
|
| South Africa |
|
| Spain |
|
| Turkey |
|
| United States |
|
Country Reports
Australia Produces Timely, Comprehensive, Useful Reports for the Current Year
Rating A Australia releases an inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions every quarter. This inventory is a public document that can be accessed online from the Department of Climate Change, Energy and Water (DCCEEW) website. The DCCEEW is responsible for compiling and releasing Australia’s GHG inventory reports. The DCCEEW also provides additional ways of accessing the data, such…
Brazil’s Climate Observatory has been Producing Reliable Estimates of Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions Since 2013
RATING: AThe OC is a coalition of Brazilian civil society organizations collaborating on climate change issues. Founded in 2001, it originally aimed to train people from NGOs – Non-Governmental Organizations on climate. 2013, it entered a new phase: data generation, launching an annual emissions estimate. The SEEG (Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimation System) was created as…
The Status of Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory
ACCESS TO DATA Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, Canada adopted 2005 as the base year for its greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) reduction target and submits an inventory annually to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by April 15 of each year, as required. As it takes over a year to compile,…
EU Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Comprehensive but Infrequent Releases of Data
Rating CAs part of the EU Climate Monitoring Mechanism, EU Member States are required to continuously improve their national inventory systems by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requirements and to “ensure the timeliness, transparency, accuracy, consistency, comparability, and completeness of their greenhouse gas inventories.” The European Union maintains an inventory system that…
France’s GHG Inventory Deserves a B Rating for Producing Comprehensive, Useful Reports No More Than One Year Old
B Rating France submits its national greenhouse gas inventory annually to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This inventory provides detailed information on the emissions of various greenhouse gases to support the monitoring and tracking of France’s progress in meeting its climate commitments. The inventory is a public document made available on…
Germany’s National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Status
RATING A In Germany, the German Environment Agency (aka the UBA, Umwelt Bundesamt), founded in 1974, began developing a reporting system in the 1980s. In 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany passed a first cabinet decision on the first national climate target aiming to reduce GHG emissions by at least 25% below the 1987 levels…
India Produces Emission Inventory Reports in a Timely, Comprehensive Manner
Rating: A With the world’s largest population of over 1.4 billion and the fifth largest economy with an annual gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.1 trillion in 2022, India ranks third globally in carbon emissions. In 2021 the country emitted 2.7 billion metric tons of CO2, or 7% of the global total. The country’s energy consumption is…
Indonesia Produces GHG Inventory Reports but they are Dated and Limited
Rating C In 1999, Indonesia submitted an Initial National Communication (INC) document to the newly formed United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), which estimated the country’s GHG emissions for the year 1990. Later, in 2010, the country submitted a Second National Communication (SNC) covering GHG emissions for the time series between 2000 and…
Japan’s Emissions Reports are Strong, but Effort Should be Made to Make them More Timely
Rating B Japan reports an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions annually as a public document. The document is available on the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) webpage. Japan does its inventory reporting. The National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) publishes, and the Ministry of the Environment reviews the report. Staff from the Greenhouse Gas…
Mexico’s GHG Inventory Reports Are Good But Dated
Rating: C This Post 68 reports on the status of Mexico’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory and describes the organizations responsible for organizing its data. Mexico releases a national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions every four years. The last Mexico Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Report was released in 2018. The inventory is a public document and…
Saudi Arabia Produces Emissions Reports That are Out of Date and Not Reliable
RATING DThe National Inventory of Anthropogenic Emissions by Sources and Removals by Sinks of Greenhouse Gases can be accessed via the KAPSARC website (King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre), which has been extracted from The First Biennial Update Report (BUR1) of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, Third National Communication of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,…
South Africa has a Good System for Compiling GHG Inventories, but the Structural Challenge Affects Effective Implementation
Rating C The 8th National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report (NIR), which was recently published, contains the greenhouse inventory from 2000 to 2017. The NIR shows South Africa’s greenhouse gas emission rate has gradually decreased. The first national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory was prepared in 1998 for the UNFCCC and published in 2004 using 1990 to…
Spain’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Provides Useful Information but Could be More Timely
Rating B- Like many other countries, Spain maintains a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory to monitor and report its emissions yearly. The latest complete report was released on March 2023 with 2021 data—a preview of the next GEI report to be released utilizing data from 2022.Generally speaking, emissions of 293.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent…
Turkey Produces Comprehensive GHG Inventories that Are One Year Behind Schedule
Rating: B Background: The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change that differs from the Kyoto Protocol. While the latter was only focused on the role of developed countries toward their emissions reduction plans and targets, the Paris Agreement required all developed and developing countries to tackle climate change and…
The U.S Emissions Inventory is Comprehensive, but Information Could be Provided on a More Timely Basis
Rating BThe Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks is a critical report that helps the U.S. government and the public apprehend the sources and trends of greenhouse gas emissions. It also helps the U.S. fulfill its international commitments to report its greenhouse gas inventory under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change…