Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information for Decision Making A Framework Going Forward (2022) / Chapter Skim
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4 Framework for Evaluating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information
4 Framework for Evaluating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information
Pages 69-92
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From page 69... ...
The Committee does not propose a strict hierarchy but recognizes that successful GHG emissions information will be used, trusted, and of sufficient quality to be fit for purpose. Pillars in Establishing a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Framework The Committee has identified six criteria or "pillars" that form a framework to evaluate GHG emissions information.
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From page 70... ...
Contextualization metrics could help to increase the usability and understandability of the information. Information Transparency Information transparency means that the data and methods used to produce GHG emissions information are publicly available and traceable.
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From page 71... ...
Information transparency is also essential for understanding GHG emissions information and its limitations, allowing results to be independently reproduced. Finally, information transparency contributes to reliability, credibility, consistency, comparability, and calibration by way of clarity in understanding how the information is generated.
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Communication Communication means that the GHG emissions information is effectively communicated to the public and decision makers. This communication goes beyond the information transparency pillar to consider the intended audience and "meet them where they are" in terms of communicating in accessible and understandable forms and formats the methodologies, assumptions, and their implications.
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From page 73... ...
Inclusivity requires data and results to be presented and communicated in a manner that a stakeholder or decision maker can reasonably assess and understand. Framework for Evaluating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information The six pillars described above provide a set of criteria that can be used to qualitatively assess GHG emissions information.
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From page 74... ...
For atmospheric-based and hybrid approaches we consider the state of the art more broadly in the scoring. While we identify that each general approach has typical strengths and weaknesses when viewed against this framework, the performance of any specific GHG emissions information may differ from these broad categorizations when considering the specific design, implementation, and objectives of the effort and when considering a specific user.
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From page 75... ...
However, the usability of activity-based GHG emissions information can be limited -- depending on the application -- by latency, GHG species coverage, a lack of spatial and temporal information that may be required by stakeholders, and comparable units and definitions. For example, 121 countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge which aims to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030 with a potential of reducing 0.2°C warming by 2050.1 Yet, methane emissions data remain uncertain or missing from some UNFCCC national submissions, which in turn impacts policy and scientific goals, and the ability to verify progress.
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Nevertheless, comparison to independent data and assignment of numerical uncertainty are not consistently performed (with some recent exceptions) and these are key goals in evaluation and validation of GHG emissions estimates.
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The complexity of some methods may also present a barrier to usability as described above. The input data and derived emissions estimates or flux estimates are described in the peer-reviewed literature in nearly all cases, but the numerical input data and estimates are not always provided, so we ranked information transparency for data
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From page 78... ...
The data and results from these approaches are often reported in scientific publications and technical conferences, although some efforts have been effectively communicated to decision makers and have had strong impacts on policies or corporate activities (e.g., natural gas leaks, the Kigali Amendment, CFC-11 detection)
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From page 79... ...
On the other hand, some emerging hybrid approaches could address these pillars well at the outset by creating open-source software, publicly available datasets, community engagement, and web-based tools. Case Studies Applying the Framework The six case studies that follow provide examples of activity-based, atmospheric-based, and hybrid approaches for quantifying GHG emissions across a range of scales.
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From page 80... ...
. Both groups of countries are required as part of their Biennial Transparency Reports to include a GHG emissions inventory, following the same requirements in the modalities, procedures, and guidelines, with some specific flexibility given to those developing countries who need it in light of their capacity.
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From page 81... ...
(2020) as an academic research study to estimate China's national GHG emissions using an activity-based approach at a finer level of detail than is available from the official UNFCCC reporting.
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From page 82... ...
(2020) is a particularly interesting case study because China is presently the largest contributor to global GHG emissions and prior work has revealed discrepancies of ~18 percent in GHG emissions calculated with different sources of activity data or emission factors, including national versus provincial level activity data and coal characteristics (Guan et al., 2012)
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From page 83... ...
There is no identified communication to the public and policy makers. 4.3 Urban Hybrid Approach: INFLUX In this case study, we consider the development and use of a hybrid approach for estimating GHG emissions on an urban scale: the Indianapolis Flux Experiment (INFLUX)
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FIGURE 4-4 Qualitative evaluation of the Indianapolis Flux Experiment (INFLUX) against the six pillars.
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From page 85... ...
While not without uncertainty, these measurement-informed inventories can improve the quality in terms of completeness and more representative GHG emissions data compared to existing national activity-based methodologies. The increasing deployment of novel technologies to quantify methane emissions and develop measurement-informed inventories, if developed at scale, can improve the timeliness and accuracy of GHG emissions estimates including supporting the U.S.
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From page 86... ...
. In the evaluation below we consider GHG emissions information generated by the GHGI and GHGRP and users of emissions information from oil and gas facilities, including national decision makers, researchers, and the public.
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In the evaluation below, we consider GHG emissions information from the PermianMAP website and users of the information including national decision makers, researchers, and the public. Usability and timeliness [High]
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From page 88... ...
national greenhouse gas inventory (GHGI) , Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP)
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From page 89... ...
, we consider EU-wide and country-level GHG emissions information available from the VERIFY website and academic publications, and users of the information to include national decision makers, researchers, and the public in the European Union. Usability and timeliness [Medium]
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From page 90... ...
is a hybrid approach that utilizes nontraditional data including satellite imagery with artificial intelligence and other data science tools to develop an activity-based account of global GHG emissions. Climate TRACE launched in 2020 and released its first data product in 2021.
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, we consider GHG emissions information publicly available on the Climate TRACE website and users of the information including national decision makers, researchers, and the public. Usability and timeliness [Low]
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From page 92... ...
The case studies demonstrate how the framework of six pillars for evaluating GHG emissions information could be applied more specifically to current efforts to identify their strengths and the areas where improvement or supplemental information is needed. Within a given approach, there can still be a wide range of performance relative to the pillars depending on the application, the user, and the user's needs.
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