Transcript Conference of European Statisticians Task force on Climate change

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CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS
TASK FORCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE RELATED STATISTICS
MEETING 8-9 OCTOBER 2013, GENEVA
Session 1: Official statistics and
Greenhouse gas inventories
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Structure of session
Task force recommendations in brief
2. Discussant's comments and questions for meeting
participants
3. Open discussion from the floor
4. Session summary
Focus = Recommendations section 4.1
Main messages and the reasoning of Chapter 2 are nicely
encapsulated in these Recommendations.
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General messages
Four groups of actors in GHG inventories:
• statisticians (NSOs)
• inventory compilers (ministry, agency, etc.)
• inventory reviewers (UNFCCC, IPCC)
• Climate change analysts.
Involvement NSOs in inventory compileration varies
considerably across countries (provide basic data,
compilation, submission).
All actors gain from better cooperation, to improve quality
inventories, at less cost.
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1. NSOs must improve data and statistics
for GHG inventories
• Currently, existing NSOs’ statistics are not used to their
full potential for emission inventories and some
duplication of data collection exists. NSOs should be
more aware of how their data are, or could be, used in the
inventories to be able to take into account the related data
needs. Annual Inventory Review Reports would be an
important source of information for NSOs to identify
national data improvement needs
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1. NSOs must improve data and statistics
for GHG inventories
• NSOs should take the initiative in improving coherence of
emission inventories and official statistics where possible.
NSOs, together with other involved agencies, should
consider the possibilities for simplifying the calculation
process to use existing data as much as possible. This in
turn could improve the quality of GHG estimates and
consistency with other statistics. Communicating data on
emissions should be improved by clarifying the contents
of emission classes in the Common Reporting Format
(CRF) and providing information of GHG gases according
to the International Standard Industrial Classification
(ISIC/NACE).
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1. NSOs must improve data and statistics
for GHG inventories
• In particular, emphasis should be put on improving the
quality of energy statistics where NSOs are an important
data provider. Given the importance of good quality
energy balances, energy balance compilers (whether
NSOs or other bodies) should aim to improve the quality
of the energy statistics and energy balances reported
internationally whilst helping to ensure the consistency of
activity data reported in GHG inventories with the energy
balances reported to international organizations (e.g. to
Eurostat and International Energy Agency (IEA));
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1. NSOs must improve data and statistics
for GHG inventories
• Several countries need to improve data on waste, land
use, the production of heat and electricity for own use and
on renewable energy sources. Policy interest exists for
data on ”off-shored” emissions and GHG emissions linked
to economic sectors.
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1. NSOs must improve data and statistics
for GHG inventories
• GHG inventories would benefit from improved timeliness
of activity data. More timely provision of finalized energy
balances to GHG inventory compilers would also be
useful. In some cases, the length of time series is not
sufficient for analysing the inventories, such as the drivers
of emissions. The inventories require the use of detailed
data. Thus access to sufficiently disaggregated source
data continues to be an issue. Data confidentiality often
prevents inventory compilers from full access to the
needed data.
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2. NSOs should be considered as official
institutions in GHG inventories
• Considering that NSOs provide a considerable portion of
the statistics required for GHG inventories, NSOs should
be given a clear role in providing statistics, assisting in
calculations as needed and assisting with quality
assurance. This should be established gradually through
official agreements, for example by including NSOs in the
national systems responsible for GHG inventories. This
could be done simply by explicitly noting the role of the
NSO in the inventory documentation submitted to the
UNFCCC or more formally via a Memorandum of
Understanding between the NSO and the national entity
responsible for the inventory. This would provide certainty
about the roles and responsibilities of each institution, and
closer co-operation would help improve the quality of
GHG inventories.
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2. NSOs should be considered as official
institutions in GHG inventories
• National legislation should be reviewed to ensure that it
facilitates effective cooperation between agencies
belonging to the national emission inventory system and
provide a legal basis for clear division of work and
exchange of data as required for the inventories. The
legislation should be in accordance with the national
statistical law.
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2. NSOs should be considered as official
institutions in GHG inventories
• NSOs need to work with the inventory compilers to
identify and evaluate NSOs statistics needed for emission
inventories to see if they are fit-for-purpose. Changes to
NSO data availability or collections systems should be
considered first where effective changes can be made. To
this end, NSOs and inventory compilers should review the
existing reporting systems for emission inventories to
identify overlaps and areas for synergies, and to make
use of the data available from the statistical system. The
aim would be to reduce costs, avoid duplicate data
reporting and move towards multipurpose data systems
serving various user needs.
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2. NSOs should be considered as official
institutions in GHG inventories
• The experience of NSOs in quality assurance would be
useful in supporting the efforts at strengthening the quality
of GHG inventory data. In particular, NSOs could be more
involved in applying the “measureable, reportable and
verifiable” approach to review the quality of data
underpinning the inventories. NSOs should strengthen the
quality assurance and quality control of activity data
across all of the sectors reported in GHG inventories.
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3. International statistical community
should take an active role
• Existing NSOs statistics might be made more useful for
emission inventories if the statistical community were
consulted by the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when drafting data
requirements. Statisticians should, therefore be included
in, or at least consulted on, emission inventory
methodology development. This in turn would help reduce
the costs of the global system and improve the quality of
inventories.
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3. International statistical community
should take an active role
• Closer involvement of the statistical community in the
processes linked to international climate accords would
help countries fulfil the related data requirements. The
statistical community should, therefore, actively follow up
on the outcomes of the UNFCCC Conferences of the
Parties, in particular those related to the Measurement,
Reporting and Verification (MRV) system. The statistical
community can add value by assessing data availability
and feasibility of requirements related to the Kyoto
protocol, and by preparing themselves for new data
requirements, for example regarding the flexibility
mechanisms.
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3. International statistical community
should take an active role
• The 17th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Durban agreed
to put in place by 2015 a global "protocol, another legal
instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the
Convention applicable to all Parties" to be implemented from
2020, essentially moving away from the current divide between
industrialized and developing countries in future accords. This
means that all countries may be required to submit annual
inventories. Countries that are just building up the inventory
system should involve the NSO from the beginning to avoid
creating burdensome and overlapping data reporting systems.
There is, therefore, an important opportunity in the next few
years to involve NSOs to provide a solid foundation for
emission inventories in countries that will be obliged to compile
them.
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3. International statistical community
should take an active role
• The international statistical community and many NSOs
can be important partners in building capacity and
knowledge required for greenhouse gas inventories,
quality assurance and sound statistical methodology.
Many NSOs have extensive experience in statistical
capacity building and improving availability of evidence
based information for monitoring development towards
international development goals.
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3. International statistical community
should take an active role
• There is scope for more sharing of good practice
nationally between NSOs and inventory agencies, and
there should be greater focus on making this happen at
the international level too.
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1. NSOs must improve data for GHG
inventories
• NSOs more aware how their data is used
• Improve coherence emission inventories and official stats
• Improve basic data on energy, agriculture, waste, land
use, etc.
• Improve coverage, quality, timeliness.
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2. NSOs should be considered as official
institution in GHG inventories
• Clear role in providing statistics and in quality assurance
• Legislation reviewed if necessary for effective cooperation
between agencies (confidential data)
• With inventory compilers evaluate whether NSOs
statistics are fit-for-purpose
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3. International statistical community
should take an active role
• Be consulted on emission inventory methodology
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development
Assess data availability and feasibility for Kyoto protocol
Prepare NSOs for new data requirements
Assist capacity building
Facilitate sharing of best practices.