UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory National System

Roles and Responsibilities

Summary

The UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory is compiled and maintained by AEA under contract to the Climate Energy & Ozone: Science & Analysis (CEOSA) in the UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).

AEA is directly responsible for producing the emissions estimates for CRF categories: Energy (CRF sector 1), Industrial Processes (CRF sector 2), Solvent and Other Product Use (CRF sector 3), and Waste (CRF Sector 6). AEA is also responsible for inventory planning, data collection, QA/QC and inventory management and archiving.

Agricultural sector emissions (CRF sector 4) are produced by the Defra’s Land Management Improvement Division by means of a contract with North Wyke Research.

Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry emissions (CRF sector 5) are calculated by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), under separate contract to CEOSA.

National Inventory System Requirements

The Marrakesh Accords of the Kyoto Protocol (Decision 20/CP7) define the requirements for National Inventory Systems (NIS), including the need to establish legal, procedural and organisational arrangements to ensure that all parties to the Protocol estimate and report their GHG emissions in accordance with relevant decisions of the COP, facilitate UNFCCC Reviews and improve the quality of their inventories. Under related EU legislation set out in Decision 280/2004/EC the UK was required to have in place it's NIS by 31st December 2005.

The development of more formal agreements between Defra and Key Data Providers (KDPs) is ongoing and will specify the framework of data supply e.g. data quality, format, timeliness and security to underpin the GHG inventory.

The figure below shows the main elements in the UK National Inventory System. Defra is the Single National Entity responsible for submitting the UK's greenhouse gas inventory (GHGI) to the UNFCCC. AEA compiles the GHGI on behalf of Defra, and produces disaggregated estimates for the Devolved Administrations within the UK.

Key Data Providers include other Government Departments such as Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) and Department for Transport (DfT), Non-Departmental Public Bodies such as the Environment Agency for England and Wales (EA) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), private companies such as Corus, and business organisations such as UK Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA) and UK Offshore Oil Association (UKOOA).

Responsibilities and Data Flows Schematic

The organisational Structure of the UK NIS can be summarised as follows:

The following sections summarise the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the UK NIS, using the terminologies defined within the Marrakesh Accords for each stakeholder group.

Single National Entity: Defra

As the designated Single National Entity for the UK GHG NIS, Defra has the following roles and responsibilities:

NIS Management & Planning

	Overall control of the NIS development & function;
	Management of contracts & delivery of GHG inventory;
	Definition of performance criteria for NIS key organisations.

Development of Legal & Contractual Infrastructure

	Review of legal & organisational structure;
	Implementation of legal instruments and contractual developments as required to meet guidelines.

Inventory Agency: AEA

As the designated Inventory Agency for the UK GHG NIS, AEA has the following roles and responsibilities:

Planning

	Co-ordination with Defra to deliver the NIS;
	Review of current NIS performance and assessment of required development action;
	Scheduling of tasks and responsibilities to deliver GHG inventory and NIS.

Preparation

	Drafting of agreements with key data providers;
	Review of source data & identification of developments required to improve GHG inventory data quality.

Management

	Documentation & archiving;
	Dissemination of information regarding NIS to Key Data Providers;
	Management of inventory QA/QC plans, programmes and activities.

Inventory Compilation

	Data acquisition, processing and reporting;
	Delivery of NIR (including associated CRF tables) to time and quality.

Key Data Providers

Within the UK GHG NIS, organisations that are Key Data Providers have the following roles and responsibilities:

Data Quality, Format, Timeliness, Security

	Delivery of source data in appropriate format and in time for inventory compilation, allowing for all required QA/QC procedures;
	Assessment of their data acquisition, processing & reporting systems, taking regard for QA/QC requirements;
	Identification of any required organisational or legal development and resources to meet more stringent NIS data requirements, notably the security of data provision in the future;
	Communication with Defra, AEA and their peers / members to help to disseminate information regarding NIS.

Summary of Key Data Sources

The GHGI is compiled using the same database as the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI). The NAEI is used for reporting under other international agreements and includes emission estimates for greenhouse gases, regional pollutants leading to acid deposition and photochemical pollution, persistent organic pollutants and other toxic pollutants such as heavy metals. The NAEI is available at http://www.naei.org.uk.

Energy statistics required for compilation of the NAEI and the GHGI are obtained from the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES). DUKES is compiled and published by the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR). DUKES is available here.

Information on industrial processes is provided either directly to AEA by the individual plant operators or from:

	the Environment Agency's Pollution Inventory (PI) for England & Wales;
	the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency’s European Pollution Emissions Register (SEPA EPER for Scotland);
	the Northern Ireland Department of Environment Inventory of Statutory Releases (ISR for Northern Ireland).

Reporting to these UK inventories for the purposes of environmental regulation is a statutory requirement for industries covered by IPPC. The data from these inventory sources is also used to quality check data provided voluntarily by companies directly to AEA.

North Wyke Research compiles the inventory for agricultural emissions using agricultural statistics from Defra.

The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) compiles estimates of emissions and removals from LULUCF using land-use data and information on forestry from the Forestry Commission (a non-departmental public body), Defra, and from other sources.

Defra also funds research contracts to provide emissions estimates for certain sources. For example, Defra are currently funding studies into landfill methane emissions and F-Gas emissions. Findings from both of these will be incorporated into the UK inventory. A recent Defra-funded study has provided estimates for methane emissions from closed coal mines (Kershaw, 2005). These emissions have subsequently been included in the GHG inventory for the first time, reported within IPCC sector 1B1 – Solid Fuels.

The GHGI is compiled according to IPCC Good Practice Guidance (IPCC, 2000). Each year the inventory is updated to include the latest data available. Improvements to the methodology are made and are backdated to ensure a consistent time series. Methodological changes are made to take account of new data sources, or new guidance from IPCC, relevant work by CORINAIR, new research, or specific research programmes sponsored by Defra.

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