Abstract
The importance of greenhouse gas inventories cannot be overstated: the process of producing inventories informs strategies that governments will use to meet emissions reduction targets. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) leads an effort to develop and refine internationally agreed upon methodologies for calculating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and removals. We argue that these guidelines are not equipped to handle the task of developing national greenhouse gas inventories for most countries. Inventory guidelines are vital to implementing climate action, and we highlight opportunities to improve their timeliness and accuracy. Such reforms should provide the means to better understand and advance the progress countries are making toward their Paris commitments. Now is the time to consider challenges posed by the current process to develop the guidelines, and to avail the policy community of recent major advances in quantitative and expert synthesis to overhaul the process and thereby better equip multi-national efforts to limit climate change.
Highlights
The importance of greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories cannot be overstated: the process of producing inventories informs and influences strategies that governments might use to meet emissions reduction targets
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), best known for its Assessment Reports on humaninduced climate change (Carraro et al 2015; Hallegatte and Mach 2016; IPCC 2006, 2014), leads a second effort to develop internationally agreed upon guidelines for calculating and supporting national reports on GHG emissions and removals
The IPCC guidelines to calculate national GHG inventories are widely applied by signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Summary
The importance of greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories cannot be overstated: the process of producing inventories informs and influences strategies that governments might use to meet emissions reduction targets. The 2006 IPCC guidelines are used by Annex I countries; non-Annex I countries are still in the process of developing GHG emissions inventories, and typically refer to the 1996 IPCC guidelines, as they are not required to use the 2006 version. Two related activities serve as examples of the kinds of opportunities available to modify the approach to developing the IPCC guidelines to better reflect the advances in scientific knowledge required for countries to achieve their Paris commitments.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call