PREFACE

Signature of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) by around 150 countries in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992
indicated widespread recognition that climate change is potentially a major
threat to the world's environment and economic development.
The ultimate objective of the Convention is the stabilisation of greenhousegas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent
dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The
Convention also calls for all Parties to commit themselves to the following
objectives:• to develop, update periodically, publish and make available to theConference of the Parties (COP) their national inventories ofanthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks, of all GHG
not controlled by the Montreal Protocol.
• to use comparable methodologies for inventories of GHG emissions andremovals, to be agreed upon by the COP.
The Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Guidelines (Revised Guidelines) are intended to assist all Parties inimplementing these objectives.
Since 1991, development of the Revised Guidelines has been undertaken bythe Working Group 1 of the IPCC under the IPCC/OECD/IEA Programme on
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The objectives of the programme are:• to develop and refine an internationally-agreed methodology andsoftware for calculation and reporting of national GHG emissions;• to encourage widespread use of the methodology by countries
participating in the IPCC and Parties to the UNFCCC;• to establish a data management system for collection, review andreporting of national data.
The Revised Guidelines are approved internationally and developed throughan international process which has included:• wide dissemination of drafts and collection of comments from nationalexperts;• testing of methods through development of preliminary inventories;

Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories:

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PREFACE• country studies which ensure that methods are tested in a wide varietyof national contexts;• technical and regional workshops held in Africa, Asia, Latin America,
Central Europe and Western Europe;• informal expert groups convened to recommend improvements on
specific aspects of the methodology.
The 1995 Guidelines were approved in November 1994. In March 1995, theConference of the Parties (COP) of the Framework Convention on
Climate Change adopted the Guidelines for the preparation of National
Communications by Annex I Parties of the Convention. These Guidelines
were more recently recommended for use by non-Annex I Parties at COP
2, July 1996.
Recognising that the Guidelines are a living document, the IPCC approved asecond phase of activity in 1994. The Revised Guidelines now include revised
methodologies and default data for Fuel Combustion, Industrial Processes,
Agricultural Soils, Land-Use Change and Forestry, Waste and Methane from
Rice Fields. Several additional methodologies for the estimation of
halofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorinated hydrocarbons (PFCs), sulphur
hexafluoride (SF6), ozone and aerosol precursors, and direct GHG (CO2,CH4, N2O) are in the Revised Guidelines.
Over the coming year, the Programme will continue to work on methods
development, including assessment, monitoring, and validation of the Revised
Guidelines. Unlike earlier programmes, products will no longer focus onrevisions of the Revised Guidelines, as no major changes to the methods areanticipated for three to five years, with the possible exception of the landuse change and forestry sector. The new mode of operation placesemphasis on the following areas:• evaluation of the quality of national greenhouse gas inventory data;• comparative scientific and technical analysis of alternative greenhousegas inventory methodologies and their implication for policy;• further methodological work in the area of land-use change andforestry;• continued harmonisation with other international
greenhouse gas inventory methodologies;

andnational• updating emission factors and default data in all source/sink sectors of
the Revised Guidelines.
Another area of general activity will be field testing of the IPCC
Methodology. The object of this activity is to ensure that country
experience gained through the implementation of the Revised Guidelines isincorporated into methods development and into future reiterations of theRevised Guidelines.

PREFACE.2

Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories:

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