The Development and Influence of IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories

With the publication of the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, the methodological guidance on national GHG inventories has been further unified and refined. The new product reflects the latest scientific and technological progress since 2006 in the accounting methods and default emission factors in General Guidance and Reporting; Energy; Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU); Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU); and Waste. It improves the completeness and accuracy of national GHG inventories and serves as a foundation for the implementation of the unified transparency framework stipulated in the Paris Agreement and its rulebook. The new refinement means a challenge for China as the country will need to apply the new methodologies, which are more complete and will result in significant growth in the total GHG emissions, especially in the energy sector, in China’s national inventories. Yet, improvement in methodologies can also help China create synergies between the efforts to tackle climate change response and other works. China should devote more efforts to build related work mechanisms and institutions, and set up a national database.