Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution

CONVENTION ON LONG-RANGE TRANSBOUNDARY AIR POLLUTION

Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections (TFEIP)

Seventeenth meeting, 31 October -2 November 2006, Thessaloniki (Greece)

Revision of the Emission Reporting Guidelines

Note by the secretariat

I.Background and mandate

1. The Emission Reporting Guidelines, originally adopted by the EMEP Steering Body in 1997 and revised in 2002 are scheduled for revision by 2007 (ECE/EB.AIR/80, Air Pollution Studies series, No. 15, para. 43). The Executive Body, at its 23rd session, welcomed Parties’ efforts to improve the quality of emission data reporting and plans for revising the 2002 Guidelines (ECE/EB.AIR/87, para 17(f)). The secretariat, on behalf of the Chairs of the Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections wrote to Parties’ designated emission experts, members of TFEIP and EMEP centers in February 2006, requesting input into the revision process.

1. Comments from Parties and centers were summarized in a spreadsheet circulated to experts in advance of the sixteenth meeting of the Task Force in June 2006 in Amersfoort (Netherlands). In addition, the secretariat prepared a spreadsheet of all years required for reporting by each Party, for each pollutant, depending on the year the Protocol entered into force, as well as when it entered into force for that Party. Relevant provisions from the Convention and each Protocol concerning emission reporting obligations is cited in the footnotes to the spreadsheet (see attached Annex II).

1. On the basis of the inputs from Parties’ experts and EMEP centers, a team of experts from MSC-West, AEAT and the secretariat drafted proposed modifications to the 2002 Guidelines for consideration by the Task Force in Amersfoort. Following the meeting, further modifications were made to the draft revised text and annexes (reporting tables and templates). The newly-revised draft was sent by email on 28 September 2006 to officially designated emission experts and EMEP heads of delegation and made available for experts of the Task Force, for consideration and agreement at the seventeenth meeting.of the Task Force (31 October - 2 November 2006, Thessalloniki, Greece). The following is an explanation of the proposed modifications, to be used as a basis for discussions during the upcoming meeting.

II.Introduction and objectives

1. The objectives of the Guidelines were reformulated to make a closer link with the Emission Inventory Review and Improvement Programme reflecting the methods and procedures for carrying out reviews of emission data in three stages (EB.AIR/GE.1/2005/7, Annex III, as adopted by the Executive Body at its 23rd session).

1. Any further revision of the Guidelines are left open for the future consideration of the Executive Body, depending on the evolving needs for changes in reporting of emission data.

III.Principles and concepts

1. Proposed changes to this section were intended to refine the language, as well as to make the principles of transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness and accuracy consistent with those used in the IPCC 2006 Guidelines. Moreover, changes proposed to the 2007 draft revision are aimed to harmonize as much as possible the emission reporting guidelines with instructions for reporting used under United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the European Commission’s National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive. A definition is also given for “key sources.” Other definitions are included in Annex I.

IV.Scope

1. General

1. The language was modified in this section in order to distinguish between the explicit reporting under the Convention and its protocols (i.e. what is legally required by Parties to protocols in accordance with emission reporting obligations) and implicit reporting (other data and information that may be useful for modeling or policy purposes). In their comments, many Parties pointed out the need to clarify precisely what was required and what was not. The United States and Canada also asked for clarification of reporting requirements for Parties who were outside the geographic scope of EMEP. Proposed changes to this section are intended to address these concerns. The legal status and possible strengthening of these proposed changes will be considered by the appropriate Bodies of the Convention.

1. This section also lays out the requirements for emission reporting under the Convention and each of the relevant seven protocols in force. It is specified that stronger requirements for reporting emissions of particular matter may be added at a later stage as particulates currently are not covered under any of the Convention’s protocols.

1. New paragraph 8 is intended to provide a rationale for the level of aggregation requested in the reporting tables, as well as to stress the importance, from a compliance perspective, of providing comprehensive and transparent reports.

1. Substances

1. New paragraph 9 lays out the pollutants covered by the revised Guidelines. This para has been amended (from former paragraph 8) to clarify that PM should be PM10 and PM2.5 and as additional information TSP. An adjustment to the list of POPs to be reported was proposed by the Netherlands, as substances in Annex I of the Protocol on POPs are scheduled for elimination and have been phased out in most Parties (aldrin, chlordane, chlordecone). The Netherlands also proposed to replace HCH with the more widely referred to “lindane”. In addition, a provision is included for “any additional POPs added to the Protocol in future”. As such, Parties are “encouraged to report emissions on: PentaBDE, PFOS, hexachlorobutadeine (HCBD), octabromodiphenyl ether (OctaBDE), polychlorinated napthalenes (PCN), pentachlorobenzene (PeCB) and short-chained chlorinated parrafins (SCCP)).” The Task Force may wish to consider this issue and/or refer it to the Convention’s Task Force on POPs.

1. Reporting years

1. This section is largely the same as in previous paragraph 9-10 (reporting years), but also clarifies that Parties within the geographic scope of EMEP should report projected activity data and projected national total emissions PM10 and PM2.5 (in addition to SO2, NOx, NH3 and NMVOC) for the years 2010, 2015 ad 2020. It is also specified that “Projection years to be reported (2025 and 2030) will be decided at a later stage.” The question of appropriate years for projected emissions may be considered by the Convention’s Working Group on Strategies and Review (WGSR) in view of the revision of the Gothenburg Protocol.

V.METHODS

A.Emission estimation methods and principles

1. The changes in this section were proposed to guide Parties to use the available resources to compile their inventories (the EMEP/CORINAIR Atmospheric Emission Inventory Guidebook and EMEP reporting templates for electronic submissions) and to encourage Parties to provide as much information as possible on how they derived their figures and compiled their inventories. Parties are requested to make every effort to use higher tiers for key sources in this way to improve inventories in the most cost-effective manner.

1. Many Parties requested clear language on reporting transport emissions from fuel, either on the basis of fuels sold (in accordance with their energy balance) or fuels consumed (according to vehicle kms), although there were conflicting comments on this text. Proposed para. 16 attempts to clarify the language, but this point may be subject to policy discussions at a higher level in the Convention (i.e., by WGSR). Emissions from fuels used on ships or aircraft engaged in international transport and forest fires may also be subject to policy discussions, aimed at harmonizing reporting under the Convention and the NEC.

1. New Paragraph 18 has been added to attain consistency and transparency on projection reporting

1. Three new sections are added to stress the importance of providing information on key sources and uncertainties, data quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC), recalculations and time-series consistency.

1. Former paragraph 17 was proposed for deletion, as it was considered to be out of scope of these Guidelines to explain the consequences of recalculations.

VI.Reporting guidance

A.General

1. Reporting guidance is given in this section, covering reporting deadlines, preparation of templates and electronic submissions. Several Parties had requested the deadline be moved but the revised draft retains the 15 February deadline. In addition, draft para. 28 is earmarked as a placeholder to insert provisions concerning the re-submission of data for purposes of correcting errors, together with an update of the methods and procedures for inventory reviews.

1. Annual reporting and five-yearly reporting

1. This section aims to clarify the requirements for reporting transparent emission data on an annual basis in accordance with the Convention and its Protocols, as well as five-yearly reporting of projections (projection years under discussion), quantitative information on parameters underlying emission projections, gridded data and data on large point sources (LPS), with an extended explanation of LPS. These requirements have been revised to further improve the usefulness of reported emissions data for modeling, assessment of progress to targets and to facilitate review.

1. Paragraph 29 requests annual reporting of activity data consistent with the reported NFR emissions categories in order to facilitate review activities and to improve the transparency of reported emissions estimates. A significant proportion of these activity data are already reported by Member States of the European Union to the European Monitoring Mechanism through their CRF reports.

1. Provisions for reporting a source category as NE (Not Estimated) has been added to para. 30 to save Parties from spending resources obtaining estimates for insignificant sources.

1. Para. 31 replaces former para. 38 laying out the requirements for Informative Inventory Reports (IIR), as these are considered increasingly important and have been flagged by EMEP as a critical tool for inventory reviews. Many Parties and the centers requested that the IIRs be made mandatory, and that suggestions for its contents be summarized in the Guidelines. Proposed para. 31 is intended to strengthen the requirement for IIRs and annex VI sets out its suggested contents. The outline/template IIR presented in annex VI attempts to harmonize Inventory reporting structures with that used under the UNFCCC. It was suggested that the IIR be submitted by 15 March to ensure its availability for the review process.

1. Under paragraph 32 Parties are requested for 5 yearly reporting of sectoral project emissions and activity data for the years of their protocol targets and for 2015 and 2020 in order to improve centralized assessments achieving targets and to facilitate the review process. The requirement for further reporting years (2025 and 2030) is still subject to to discussion at the EB.

1. Projection reporting: In order to harmonise with other reporting and to reduce the reporting burden on Parties, these guidelines offer Parties that are member states of the European Union the opportunity to may report projections through the provision of copies of projections submitted under the EU’s National Emission Ceiling (NEC), as long as the underlying data are consistent with emissions inventory data reported under the Convention.

1. The requirement for reporting gridded totals has been removed. AA new sectoral aggregation level for reporting gridded data has been introduced (GNFR) in order to improve the usefulness of reported spatial/temporal data for modeling and to reduce the reliance of the models on centralised spatial distributions of sectoral Party emissions.

1. LPS: A new definition for Large Point Sources was added, to be consistent with reporting under E-PRTR.

VII.Record keeping

1. It has been suggested that the original submission of data and the IIR are made available on the Internet.

VIII.Updating the Guidelines

1. Former paragraph 43 has been amended to reflect that the Task Force may propose updates of the Guidelines to the EMEP Steering Body to achieve harmonization with other reporting obligations, increased transparency or otherwise find that the Guidelines need revision.

Annex I Definitions

Revised definitions of Particulate Matter (PM) have been added.

Definitions for fuels (based on the IPCC 2006 Guidelines) have been added to clarify the broad categories of fuel type used in the activity data part of annex VI Table 1.

Definitions of Large Point Sources (LPS), notation keys and fuels have been added (the latter two taken from the IPCC 2006 Guidelines). As noted above, the definition for LPS is consistent with reporting under E-PRTR.

Definitions of international aviation and international shipping (consistent with IPCC definitions) have been added.

Notation Key definitions have been revised (since the 2002 Guidelines) and moved to this annex.

Annex II

A table of emission reporting obligations by Party, by Protocol and pollutant has been added.

Annex III GNFR

Annex III Table A: will show the complete mapping of the new NFR to SNAP and IPCC and will be completed when the new NFR has been agreed (To be updated in 2007).

Annex III Table B contains a new aggregation of NFR to form the minimum

grid and LPS aggregation for reporting. These 20 aggregated categories

referred to as the (GNFR) are needed for modeling purposes as they

provide the necessary detail to enable modelers to:

1. be able to assign the appropriate height categories and temporal (seasonal and daily) variations needed for modeling the atmospheric transport, chemical reactions and seasonal loading of emissions.

1. provide sufficient detail for scenario work and the efficient application of different abatement measures to different GNFR categories.New aggregation level is suggested to meet modeling needs for spatial variations.

Annex IV

A summary table of reporting requirements has been added.

Reporting template has been amended reflecting the discussions in Amerfoort and the need for better transparency in reporting of emissions of PM, HM and POPs.

Additions/changes to reporting template table IV 1 include:

• Detailed NFR categories to improve the transparency in reporting of emissions of PM, HM and POPs.
• Removal of summary rows to assist Parties in filling the tables with data (summary services are proposed as an addition to the submission analysis services provided by REPDAB)
• A requirement for reporting activity data and fuel use, using the broad fuel categories used by the IPCC to facilitate the review process and improve the transparency of Parties submissions.

Table 2a & Table 2b:

Reporting of projected emissions has been extended to include sectoral detail, reporting of PM2.5, and projected activity data similar to that provided under the EU Monitoring Mechanism. These requirements have been added to address the need to assess Parties progress towards their Protocol commitments and to facilitate the review process.

Table 3a and Table 3b:

These tables have been streamlined to reflect the need for GNFR sectoral reporting and for table 3b to improve stack height reporting and link reported LPS data to data reported under E-PRTR.

Annex V

No modifications.

Annex VI

The template for the proposed structure and content of the IIR aimsto be as similar as possible to the NIR required under the UNFCCC. However, to avoid an unnecessary reporting burden on Parties, some differences are suggested. One of the main differences is the concept of submitting the entire report on an annual basis, while allowing some parts to be updated only every 5 years. The 5 yearly components are clearly marked in the annex template.

Other differences are set forth in the table below:

NIR (UNFCCC) template / IIR Template / Comments
Executive Summary: / ------/ Excluded from IIR to reduce burden on Parties.
Chapter 1: Introduction / Chapter 1: Introduction / See below. 5 yearly reporting requested in IIR to reduce burden on Parties.
1.1 / 1.1 / similar information requested but for non GHG inventories
1.2 / 1.2 / similar information requested to the NIR. The IIR requests only updates 5 yearly with a bit more elaboration on the National Inventory system.
1.3 / 1.3 / similar information requested to the NIR. The IIR requests only updates 5 yearly.
1.4 / 1.4 / similar information requested to the NIR. The IIR requests only updates 5 yearly.
1.5 / 1.5 / similar information requested to the NIR
1.6 / 1.6 / similar information requested to the NIR. The IIR requests only updates 5 yearly.
1.7 / 1.7 / similar information requested to the NIR. The IIR requests only updates 5 yearly.
1.8 / 1.8 / similar information requested to the NIR but specifically including requests for reporting on IE’s as well as NE’s
Chapter 2: TRENDS IN GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS / Chapter 2: Explanation of key trends. / The IIR does not include the sub sections required in the NIR as these are either not relevant or too burdensome for Parties. The focus for the IIR is on identifying & explaining key dips and jumps in the trends, rather than a narrative on all gasses and all pollutants which would be a big task. The aim of this chapter for the IIR is to assure users that the trends are reasonable and do not result from time series inconsistencies.
2.1 / ------/ See above
2.2 / ------/ See above
2.3 / ------/ See above
2.4 / ------/ See above
Chapters 3 – 9
Sectoral Chapters / Chapters 3 – 9
Sectoral Chapters / The same sectoral breakdown for chapters. For IIR only annual updating of activity data and annual updates for major changes (key sources) to methodologies required. Otherwise updated every 5 years. No subheads in IIR and less detailed reporting required. IIR excludes requirements for QA/QC & verification reporting, source specific improvements planned and detailed source category description. A summary of the planned improvements are requested under Chapter 10 of the IIR.
Detailed data from Chapter 7 is not required.
x.1 / ------/ See above
x.2 / ------/ See above
x.2.1 / ------/ See above
x.2.2 / ------/ See above
x.2.3 / ------/ See above
x.2.4 / ------/ See above
x.2.5 / ------/ See above
x.2.6 / ------/ See above
Chapter 10: Recalculation and Improvement / Chapter 10: Recalculation and Improvement / Similar information to the NIR. The IIR does not split into subheads. The IIR does not request identification of recalculations resulting in response to review. The IIR requests information in addition to that in the NIR on “recalculations since the base year of each Protocol”. The IIR also requests a description of planned improvements in this chapter.
10.1 / ------/ See above
10.2 / ------/ See above
10.3 / ------/ See above
10.4 / ------/ See above
------/ Chapter 11: / IIR requests a description of projections reported. (This is an optional request)
------/ Chapter 12: / A chapter for elaborating on the exceptional circumstances of emissions that are “temporarily higher than the ceilings established for it for one or more pollutants (after 2010)”

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