31st Meeting of the Bureau of the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
14-15 November 2019
Osaka, Japan,
Summary of the meeting
The 31st meeting of the Bureau of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFB) was
held on 14 – 15 November 2019 in Osaka, Japan. It was hosted by the government of Japan andorganized by the Technical Support Unit (TSU) of the Task Force on National greenhouse Gas
Inventories (TFI). It was held back-to-back with the seventeenth meeting of the Editorial Board of theIPCC Emissions Factors Database (EFDB) held in Osaka on 11-14 November 2019.
The agenda of the 31st meeting of TFB was as presented below.
One of the main objectives of the 31st meeting of TFB was to discuss the plan of activities for thepreparatory work for the Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers (SLCF) to be taken during
the IPCC’s 6th assessment cycle (AR6 cycle) in accordance with the decision made by the IPCC at its
49th Session (Decision IPCC-XLIX-7). TFB agreed 4 expert meetings for producing supporting materials
will be held in 2020-2021, 2 expert meetings each year.
TFB considered the lists of edits and errata proposed by TSU in consultation with authors to be
implemented before the online publication of the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines forNational Greenhouse Gas Inventories. TFI Co-Chairs noted that these edits and errata are implemented
in line with the IPCC Error Protocol. TFB agreed to publish the final copy-edited files on the TFI website
by the end of November 2019.
Regarding the IPCC Inventory Software, TSU presented the plan of improvements of the software for theyears 2020 and 2021, which includes: approach 2 for uncertainty analysis and key category analysis,translation into 5 non-English UN languages, add-on for land representation (statistical and wall-to-wallapproach), time series export and xml export suitable to be uploaded by the UNFCCC CRF reporter. TFB
took note of this plan.
TSU reported on the cooperation with the UNFCCC Secretariat at regional workshops for developing
countries on the use of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines and the IPCC Inventory Software. TFB decided thatTSU will continue cooperating with UNFCCC on regional workshops on national GHG inventories subject
to TSU’s time and resource availability.
TSU reported on the present and planned activities on EFDB. TFB recognized the need to call for
nominations for EFDB Editorial Board (EB): The terms for 8 out of 36 current members will expire at theend of 2019 and for other 10 members the terms will expire at the end of 2020. TFB agreed to hold asingle Data meeting per year in 2020 and 2021, and indicated the energy sector as the subject for the18th Data meeting, which is expected to be held in India together with the 18th EB meeting in 2020.
TSU presented the work plan of TFI between the 31th meeting of TFB and the end of 2019 and for theyear 2020. TSU further presented the budget on TFI activities in 2019-2022 as part of the IPCC TrustFund Programme and Budget, and proposed some changes in the budget for 2020 adopted by the IPCC
at its 49th Session and also in the forecast budget for 2021 noted by the IPCC at the same Session.. TFB

agreed the proposed changes and requested TSU to submit revised budgets to the 52nd Session of theIPCC (February 2020)
TFB took note of the report by the TSU on the status of corrigenda and alleged errors in the 2006 IPCCGuidelines.
TFB also discussed the use of the webpage of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to clarify issues
relating to IPCC Methodology Reports. TFB was reminded of the procedure which has been followed toproduce and update the list of FAQ in the past and agreed to continue following it. The agreed procedure
is as follows:i. As deemed needed, TSU drafts the FAQ and the answer, consulting relevant authors andconsistently with accepted Methodology Reports: i.e. 2006 IPCC Guidelines, Wetlands
Supplement, KP Supplement, 2019 Refinement.
ii. TFB revises the FAQ draft, as deemed necessary, and approves it.
iii. TSU publishes on TFI website the text approved by TFB.
TFB agreed to hold the next meeting just after the 2nd expert meeting on SLCF, likely on the 3 July 2020
in Istanbul, Turkey.

AGENDA

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91011Opening of the meeting Welcome remarks by TFI Co-Chairs
Adoption of agenda
Minutes of TFB30
2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
 Final publication
Emission Factor Database (EFDB) Membership of Editorial Board
 Progress in data collection
 Other developments
 Outreach activities Plan for further work
IPCC Inventory Software Progress in the work to improve and enhance the usefulness of the Software Plan for further development (together with UNFCCC)
 Report on Expert Meeting on the Software in IGES (October 2019) and other efforts for promotion ofSoftware Plan for Expert Meeting on the Software in 2020 (October 2020)
Work on Short-Lived Climate Forcers (SLCFs)
 Report on IPCC Decision XLIX-7
 TSU comparative analysis of methods contained in the 2006 Guidelines and in the EMEP/EEA together
with assessment of EFs availability
 Consideration of future work
Cooperation with UNFCCC Secretariat
 Report on UNFCCC Regional Workshops to promote use of 2006 IPCC Guidelines by non-Annex IParties
Work Plan and Budget Report on the work plan and budget (2020-2022)
 Consideration of any changes that need to be proposed to the next IPCC Plenary Session
Errors and corrigenda
 Status on issuance of corrigenda for the errors identified in the IPCC Guidelines
 Pending error claims
Consideration on the IPCC Procedures from the TFI’s perspective
 Strategy to update Tier 1 (default) emission factors regularly and with appropriate frequency
 Potential demand for merging the 2006 IPCC Guidelines and 2019 Refinement (and WetlandsSupplement) Comments on IPCC Procedures and suggestions on their further enhancement
Any other business Plan for a side event during COP25
 Consideration of the outcomes of the IPCC Task Group on the Organization of the Future Work of theIPCC in light of the Global Stocktake
 Date and place of the next meeting