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Air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions: monitoring mechanism and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol

2003/0029(COD)

This report is a summary of the technical report prepared by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to be submitted on behalf of the EC to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount pursuant to Art. 7 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol (KP), and demonstrate the EC’s capacity to account for its emissions and assigned amount for the first commitment period under the KP (the “assigned amount” report).

The KP was ratified by the EC and its Member States (MS) on 31 May 2002. At this ratification, the Community declared that it and its MS would fulfil their respective emission limitation and reduction commitments under Art. 3(1) of the Protocol jointly in accordance with Art. 4. At the time of ratification, there were 15 Member States.  The accession of 10 additional MS after the adoption of the Protocol does not affect the Community’s commitments under the Protocol. For this reason, the Community’s calculation of its assigned amount refers to the 15 MS listed above (EU-15). The assigned amount report also presents information for the eight new MS that have quantified emission limitation or reduction obligations under the KP (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia). Cyprus and Malta do not have a quantified emission limitation or reduction obligation under the KP and are therefore not included in this report.

According to UNFCCC Decision 13/CMP.1, the assigned amount report should consist of two parts:

Part 1

- Complete inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases (GHG): these are included in theEC “assigned amount” report as prepared by the EEA. The information included in these GHG inventories is the basis for the calculation of the assigned amount of the EC as presented in this Communication.

- Identification of the EC’s selected base year for HFCs, PFCs and SF in accordance with Art. 3(8): Austria, France and Italy selected 1990 as the base year for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF). All other MS chose 1995. The base year for all other GHG emissions under the KP is 1990 for the EU-15. The base year for HFCs, PFCs and SF6 for the new MS with commitments under the KP is 1995, except for Slovakia which chose 1990 as base year for fluorinated gases. The base year for all other GHG emissions under the KP is 1990, except for Poland (1988), Slovenia (1986) and Hungary (1985-87).

- The agreement under Article 4, where the Party has reached such an agreement to fulfil the commitment under Article 3 jointly with other Parties: the agreement of the EC and its MS to fulfill the respective commitments under Art. 3(1) of the KP jointly (the joint fulfilment agreement) established quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments for the Community and its MS for the first commitment period, from 2008 to 2012.

- Calculation of its assigned amount pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8) on the basis of the inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol: the EC’s assigned amount pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8) is equal to the percentage inscribed for the Community in Annex B of the KP (92 %) of its base year emissions multiplied by five. The Community base year emissions are 4,276,359,577 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq.) and are equal to the sum of base year emissions of greenhouse gases for EU-15.

The Community’s assigned amount is 19,682,555,325 tonnes of CO2 eq. The calculations of the Community’s assigned amount and the respective assigned amounts of each MS are set out in Table 1 of this report. The assigned amounts for the new MS are set out in Table 2. The revision of MS emissions data for the base-year under the KP results in an arithmetic difference of 11,403,608 tonnes of CO2 eq. between the assigned amount for the EC and the sum of the assigned amounts of each of the EU-15 MS.

Part 2

- Calculation of the commitment period reserve in accordance with decision 11/CMP.1: the Commitment Period Reserve (CPR) is the lowest of either 90 per cent of a Party's assigned amount calculated pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8), of the KP, or 100 per cent of five times the most recently reviewed inventory. This report shows both the CPRs for the EU-15 MS and the EC and the commitment period reserves for new MS with quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments under Art. 3 of the KP.

- Identification of the selection of single minimum values for tree crown cover, land area and tree height for use in accounting under Art. 3(3) and 3(4): MS have selected threshold values for the forest definition for reporting on the activities afforestation, reforestation and deforestation under Art. 3(3) of the KP. The document presents an overview on MS’ selections to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount.

- Identification of the election of activities under Art. 3(4) for inclusion in the accounting for the first commitment period: Art. 3(4) of the KP provides the option of including the activities forest management, cropland management, grazing land management and revegetation in the accounting of emissions and removals for the first commitment period. MS decided on the election of these activities in their national reporting under the KP. The EC’s inventory and assigned amount calculation is based on the election of activities by the EU-15. The report presents an overview of the EU-15 MS’ elections of activities under Art. 3(4) to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount.

- Identification of frequency of accounting for each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4): MS identify the accounting frequency for the activities under Art. 3(3) and 3(4) in their respective reports to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount. Each MS will account for net emissions and removals for each activity under Art. 3(3), and Art. 3(4) if elected, by issuing RMUs or cancelling KP units based on the corresponding reported emissions and removals from these acticities and the specific accounting rules. The EC will neither issue, nor cancel units based on the reported emissions and removals from activities under Art. 3(3) and 3(4). The EC will report the sum of MS’ cumulative accounting quantities for these activities at the end of the commitment period, representing the MS’ cumulative additions to or subtractions from their assigned amount at the end of the commitment period.

- A description of the national system in accordance with Art. 5(1) reported in accordance with the guidelines for the preparation of the information required under Article 7 of the KP: the objectives of the EC’s inventory system are to ensure accuracy, comparability, consistency, completeness, transparency and timeliness of the inventories submitted by the MS and the Community to the UNFCCC in accordance with the UNFCCC Guidelines for annual inventories. The inventory stem is illustrated in the report. The EC’s inventory is based on the inventories supplied by the MS. The total estimate of the Community’s GHG emissions should accurately reflect the sum of MS’ national GHG inventories. MS are responsible for choosing activity data, emission factors and other parameters used for their national inventories as well as the correct application of methodologies. The report also describes the annual process of compilation of the Community’s inventory.