INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE
WMO

NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORIES PROGRAMMEESTABLISHING A DATABASEON

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION FACTORS

Meeting Report

New Delhi, India
24-25 July 2000

Supporting material prepared for consideration by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
This supporting material has not been subject to formal IPCC review and approval process.

UNEP

IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme
and its Technical Support Unit
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) jointly
established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 to:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

Make periodic assessments of the science, the impacts, the economics and the options for the mitigation
of/adaptation to climate change;
Assess, and develop as necessary, methods such as the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories;
Provide, on request, scientific/technical/socio-economic advice to the Conference of the Parties to theUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP/UN FCCC) and its bodies.

The IPCC, at its 14th session in October 1998, established a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories(TFI). The TFI was to have a Task Force Bureau (TFB) to provide guidance on the management of the IPCC
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IPCC-NGGIP).
In accordance with a decision taken by the IPCC at its 14th session and an offer of funding by the Government ofJapan, a Technical Support Unit (TSU) for the Programme was set up in 1999 at the Institute for Global
Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Hayama, Japan. The TSU took over the technical support for the NGGIP
which had been managed by IPCC Working Group I since 1991, in close collaboration with the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The objectives of the IPCC-NGGIP are:•••To develop and refine an internationally-agreed methodology and software including good practice guidance
for the calculation and reporting of national GHG emissions and removals;
To encourage the widespread use of this methodology and guidance by countries participating in the IPCC
and by signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);
To facilitate the compilation of national greenhouse gas inventories.

The primary function of the TSU which is responsible to the TFB through its two Co-chairs is to serve the needsof the NGGIP.
The TSU undertakes scientific and technological duties as part of the Programme including:-

Improving technical support for countries engaged in estimating GHG emissions and removals related to fueluse, industrial sources, waste disposal, agricultural activities and land use, land-use change, and forestry;
Collecting, managing and disseminating information related to GHG inventories;
Organising international meetings of experts to take up scientific and technical issues in the various sectors toassist parties compile more reliable GHG inventories;
Responding to specific requests from parties on issues relating to GHG inventories.

February 2001
Japan

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report was prepared by Tinus Pulles, Katarina Mareckova, Taka Hiraishi, Sal Emmanuel and Jeroen Meijerwith assistance from Leandro Buendia, Kyoko Miwa and Kiyoto Tanabe. We are grateful to the twenty experts who
contributed to this report and attended the expert meeting. We also thank the staff of the Tata Energy ResearchInstitute (TERI) and the staff of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) who assisted in organising
the expert meeting.

Table of Contents
PART 1 – OVERVIEW......................................................................................................................... 1
PURPOSE OF A DATABASE AND MEETING ............................................................................. 1
PARTICIPANTS................................................................................................................................ 2
SUMMARY OF RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 3
PART 2 – PROCEEDINGS .................................................................................................................. 4
PRESENTATIONS............................................................................................................................ 4
DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................... 5
A OBJECTIVES AND USERS OF THE DATABASE ............................................................................. 5
1
Main objectives ............................................................................................................... 5
2
Users................................................................................................................................ 5
B CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE DATABASE......................................................................... 63
Content ............................................................................................................................ 6
4
Structure .......................................................................................................................... 6
4 (a) Data fields ................................................................................................................... 7
4 (b) Data sources................................................................................................................ 9
C DEVELOPMENT OF THE DATABASE ........................................................................................... 95
Selection of computer software ....................................................................................... 96
Proposed work plan for the development of the database ............................................. 10DLONG TERM ASSESSMENT OF THE DATABASE ........................................................................ 117
Hosting and sustainability ............................................................................................. 118
Data collection procedures ............................................................................................ 11
9
Quality control: options for inclusion of information and peer review ......................... 12
10 Funding.......................................................................................................................... 12
11
Copyright/intellectual property restrictions................................................................... 13
12 Distribution of the database........................................................................................... 13
13 Working language.......................................................................................................... 13

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................................................ 14
ANNEXES........................................................................................................................................... 16

PART 1 – OVERVIEWPURPOSE OF A DATABASE AND MEETING
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change develop, periodically update andpublish a national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhousegases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol (hereinafter referred to as greenhouse gas (GHG)
inventories).
For Parties mentioned in Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol, these GHG inventories will facilitate
determination of compliance with quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments.
Emissions of GHGs can be estimated either by direct measurements or by calculations1. In practice, mostemissions are estimated by calculations using activity data and emission factors for reasons of costeffectiveness. Therefore, the quality of GHG inventories depends substantially on the reliability of therelevant parameters and in particular on the selection of the emission factors.
Although it is preferable to use emission factors that reflect the national circumstances, emission factor
development is expensive, time consuming and requires a wide range of expertise. The Revised 1996 IPCC
Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (hereinafter referred to as the IPCC Guidelines) andthe recently published Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse
Gas Inventories (hereinafter referred to as the Good Practice Report) provide default emission factors forthe majority of source and sink categories. Some of these default emission factors are region or country
specific, but in general not all regions or countries are covered. Sharing of research information would
enable countries to use or develop emission factors that are more reliable and better applicable than the
IPCC default emission factors without having to bear the associated research cost.
For this reason, many countries have indicated (e.g. in the Expert Group Meeting on National Feedback on
the Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Cuba, 1998) that an easily
accessible public database on GHG emission factors with supporting scientific information would help
improve the quality of GHG inventories in a cost-effective way.
A database on GHG emission factors with supporting scientific information would also support the future
review and update of the IPCC Guidelines under the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Programme.
Although collections of GHG emission factors have been prepared by various organisations, they do not
generally cover all world regions or all emission source categories. Examples are:••1

AP-42 from the US Environmental Protection Agency;
Joint EMEP/CORINAIR Atmospheric Emission Inventory Guidebook;For example, to estimate methane emissions from cars, one can:•Perform direct measurements at the tail pipe of every single car; or•Multiply litres of gasoline consumed by an emission factor.

In the latter case, the result expresses the average emissions in grams of methane per litre of gasoline. The latter solution ismore practical and cheaper than the former one.

1

•
•
•

Database of Phare Topic Link on Air Emissions (focuses on Eastern European countries);
Database of the Japanese National Institute for Agro-Environmental Studies (focuses on agriculture);
OLADE database of emission factors (Latin America)

Extensive coverage of all IPCC source/sink categories and all world regions would be the longer term goalof the new database.
Against this background an IPCC expert meeting was convened to:•••Develop a work plan to construct a database of emission factors with wide regional and sectoral
coverage;
Discuss ways of operating and maintaining the database;
Determine a preliminary set of user requirements.

PARTICIPANTS
The meeting, held in New Delhi, India on 24-25 July, 2000 was attended by 27 participants from 17
countries (Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of
Uzbekistan, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Sudan, United Kingdom, United States and Zimbabwe),
as well as from the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC), the Task Force Bureau of the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IPCCNGGIP/TFB), the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme(IPCC-NGGIP/TSU) and the Organización Latinoamericana de Energía (OLADE). The meeting was cochaired by Tinus Pulles from the Netherlands and Katarina Mareckova of the Slovak Republic.
The Tata Energy Research Institute hosted the meeting.

2

SUMMARY OF RESULTS
The discussions resulted in a first outline of user requirements, including quality aspects and a proposed
work plan to construct a prototype database on the Internet and CD-ROM by the end of 2001.
The workshop participants proposed a work plan that would require two more expert meetings:
1

A meeting to discuss and finalise the functional design of the system (by March 2001);

2

A meeting to review and discuss the populated prototype (by December 2001).

After the completion of the prototype database, regular meetings of emission factor experts, organised bysource category, would help data collection and assessment. Currently, no budget is available for suchmeetings. Organising them back-to-back with other related meetings could reduce the costs of suchmeetings while at the same time facilitating the participation of the limited number of experts in the fieldworldwide.
The meeting requested the TSU to consult the Task Force Bureau on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
or the IPCC Bureau to see if additional funds could be made available.
A major issue was the large amount of work involved in collecting, reviewing and processing research
information on emission factors to be incorporated in an emission factors database. It is clear that theTechnical Support Unit of the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme cannot undertake
this task alone2. The project depends on collaboration with outside organisations and national governments.
Collaborative mechanisms need to be devised and partners identified. The meeting proposed to organise
populating the database by means of an editorial and reviewing board, limiting the effort required by thesystem and database managers to distributing proposed entries to members of the editorial and reviewing
board and following up on their decisions.

2

As a comparison, the USEPA FIRE emission factors database was developed by 10 persons working full-time for 1.5 years.

3PART 2 – PROCEEDINGSPRESENTATIONS
A number of presentations that provided background information and facilitated the discussions were madeby the following participants.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Tinus Pulles: “Establishing a database on GHG emission factors”;
Leandro Buendia: “Database on methane emissions from rice fields”;
Wanda Pazdan: “Achievements of Phare Topic Link on Air Emissions in the field of emission
factors”;
Mike Woodfield: “Experiences of the UNECE Task Force on Emission Inventories”;
Stelios Pesmajoglou: “Activities of the UNFCCC in relation to GHG inventories and views on the
IPCC emission factors database”;
Jeroen Meijer: “Activity data collection mechanism of the International Energy Agency for its CO2
emissions database – relevant highlights”;
Uma Rajarathnam: “Emission factors for GHGs from small scale combustion”;
Gabriel Hernandez: “OLADE statistics on GHG emissions from Energy”.

Overhead slides of these presentations are available separately. Information about some of the speakers andtheir respective organisations are as follows.
Tinus Pulles has been involved in various emissions estimation projects of the European Environmental
Agency and was responsible for the emissions inventory software of the EEA.
Leandro Buendia works for the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Programme. Previously he was involved in emission factor research at the International Rice ResearchInstitute.
Wanda Pazdan works for the Phare Topic Link on Air Emissions and is currently constructing a database ofemission factors for 10 Eastern-European countries.
Mike Woodfield is the co-chairman of the UNECE Task Force on Emission Inventories. He has been
involved in the production of the EMEP/CORINAIR Atmospheric Emission Inventory Guidebook.
Stelios Pesmajoglou is working as a Program Officer at the secretariat of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
Jeroen Meijer works for the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Programme. Previously he worked at the International Energy Agency.
Uma Rajarathnam has been involved in research on emission factors for small-scale combustion and works
for TERI.

4

Gabriel Hernandez is responsible for OLADE’s calculations of GHG emissions from energy use in Latin
America. Emission factors come from the IPCC Guidelines and other sources.

DISCUSSION
Discussions were structured along a list of topics outlined in the paper prepared for the workshop. This
structure has been retained below.

A

OBJECTIVES AND USERS OF THE DATABASE

1 Main objectives
The main objective of the database is the storage and exchange of information on and details of emission
factors (including collection methods and classification) and other parameters needed to estimate GHG
emissions. The database to be developed will:• Provide inventory compilers a wider choice of emission factors and other relevant parameters(including background information) than currently available in the IPCC Guidelines;• Facilitate the selection of the most appropriate emission factors through comparisons of theunderlying information;• Serve as a starting point for additional emission factor research programmes;• Improve the quality and reliability of GHG inventories;• Increase the transparency of GHG inventories;• Provide a valuable input to assessment, review and future updates of the IPCC Guidelines.

2 Users
Priority 1:••

Inventory compilers (inventory agencies);
IPCC (future update of IPCC Guidelines, starting in 2002).

Priority 2:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Inventory review teams;
Project developers, involved in e.g. the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation;
Corporations and others who engage in emissions trading;
Scientists;
General public and NGOs;
Consultants involved in GHG inventories work.

5

B

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE DATABASE

3 Content
Which gases to include?
The workshop participants agreed that it would be most appropriate to include emission factors andemission estimation parameters on four “single” gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous
oxide (N2O), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and on each of the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) andperfluorocarbons (PFCs) mentioned in Table 1 of the Common Reporting Format of the UNFCCC (seeUNFCCC document FCCC/CP/1999/7). Indirect greenhouse gases will not be included in the databaseduring the initial development stage, but the system could be designed to allow including them at somefuture date.

Which emission factors to include?
Options are:• All default emission factors from the IPCC Guidelines and the Good Practice Report; plus
• Only country-specific emission factors that are different from the default IPCC emission factors;or• For each country, all emission factors used, even if some or all of them are the same as the default
IPCC emission factors;or• Two data sets of factors:− set 1 includes all the emission factors used in estimating emissions;− set 2 includes only high quality emissions factors with margin of standard error andbackground literature that describes the source and how the emission factors were
estimated.
Implied emission factors, as defined in the UNFCCC Common Reporting Format, in most cases are timedependent and weighted averages of the underlying emission factors used in the calculation of GHG
emissions. They could be included as a second priority with a clear indication that they should not be used
for inventory calculations directly, but may serve as an order of magnitude check.

Which other parameters to include?
It is preferable that all parameters that are required by different methods listed in the IPCC Guidelines andthe Good Practice Report be included in the database, for example:• Biological oxygen demand (BOD) in waste water;• Average milk production.

4 Structure
The workshop participants agreed that the database should be structured according to the source/sink
categories of the IPCC Guidelines and the Good Practice Report, taking into account the UNFCCC
Common Reporting Format. Within source/sink categories, the structure should follow estimation tiers.
(Later in this paper, suggestions are made for database fields.)

6

The workshop participants also agreed that the structure should be flexible to allow for the following
elements:• Changing demands on the database;• Incorporation of data from other databases in the future or link to relevant database for greater detailon emission factors;• Inclusion of source/sink categories that are not considered in the IPCC Guidelines/the Good Practice
Report/ the UNFCCC Common Reporting Format, that could be introduced in Non-Annex I
countries3;• Introduction of new methods to estimate GHG emissions in the future.
There could be different types of sector classifications in a database to provide a link to different inventory
methods (e.g. CORINAIR) with an indication of the IPCC source/sink category. 'Look-up' facilities should
translate one classification system to another. Consideration should be given to include categories below
the most detailed IPCC level to allow for different estimation or classification practices in different
countries.
Other parameters required in an estimation method may not fit neatly in a simple structure of source/sink
category and gas. Additional knowledge is required to show how this information may be used in GHG
emissions estimations. The database structure should be able to accommodate this knowledge.
Another issue is the inclusion or exclusion of expert systems or mathematical models that can be used to
calculate emission factors as a function of various parameters.
Advantages of inclusion:• A better match of emission factors to local circumstances would be allowed.
• Emission factor information would be available in one software package, compared to the situation
where internet links to the modelling software would be required. This is an important considerationin developing a database that would ensure direct and simple access to data.
Disadvantages:• It is technically complicated to build a mathematical model into a database.
• It requires extra person-time to fully understand the mathematical models and to include them in the
database.
• Stand-alone modelling software will offer more modelling features. These features will be absent in
the EF database.
However, it should be noted that including complex and detailed models in a database of emission factors
would lie beyond the scope of such a database.

4 (a) Data fields
The information in the emission factors database will be organised in data records. Each data record will3

For example, biomass fuel such as sugar cane baggasse for power generation and ethanol as fuel for road transportation.

7

contain information about one emission factor or emission estimation parameter. The information in a data
record is subdivided in separate pieces, the so-called data fields. Each data record will be uniquely
identified through the use of information stored in data fields.
The following is a preliminary list of data fields that would contain the information that users expect tofind in the database. The final list will depend to a certain extent on the database structure and technology
chosen.
•
•
•

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Gas that will be estimated with the parameter or emission factor;
Descriptive name of the parameter or emission factor;(Sub-) source category or activity definition, according to the source/sink categories of the IPCC
Guidelines/the Good Practice Report and taking into account the UNFCCC Common Reporting
Format 4;
Value of the emission factor or parameter;
Measurement unit 5;Upper and lower boundaries (confidence limits) at the 95 % confidence interval;
IPCC worksheet number if applicable;
Influencing factors (e.g. technology, fuel, abatement technology, region, latitude, longitude, altitude,
humidity or feeding practices) 6;
The equation used for estimating the emission;
Reference or source of the information (e.g. country, organisation, researcher(s), where published);
Data quality rating 7;
Description of measurement techniques;
Amount and frequency of measurements;
Date of measurements;
Other information relevant to a determination of the quality of the measurements.

Several participants in the meeting raised the point that ‘country’ is often not a good parameter on its own
to explain emission factor variations. More important are parameters like technology, climatic conditions,
altitude, animal or vegetation type, etc. Care should be taken not to omit this information. Experience fromthe EMEP/CORINAIR project shows that emission factors vary considerably, even at a very disaggregatedclassification level.
A confidence interval or a data quality rating for an emission factor may not be of practical use without

4

There could be different types of sector classifications simultaneously in a database, to provide a link todifferent inventory methods (e.g. CORINAIR). There should always be an indication of the IPCC source/sink category.
IPCC source/sink category should be the primary identification field to be used for quick/easy search and retrieval ofemission factors.

5

Units should preferably be those identified in the IPCC Guidelines/the Good Practice Report or in the

UNFCCC Common Reporting Format.
6
The type and amount of influencing factors will differ among IPCC source categories.
7

Workshop participants preferred to leave it to the supplier of the information to choose a system, e.g.
UNECE/CORINAIR, USEPA, DARS, etc. This avoids re-evaluation or re-coding of existing quality ratings.
Information on the data source itself could also be considered as an indicator of data quality

8knowing what the factor will be used for. Application of one emission factor to different situations (e.g.
combustion conditions, climatic zones or water management regimes) may reveal that the uncertainty is
low in one situation and high in another. A confidence interval or a data quality rating is not universally
valid. The factors influencing the value of the emission factor should be clearly indicated.
An indication of the quality of the parameter or emission factor could be provided by the data quality
rating, the 95% confidence interval, the reference (peer reviewed scientific journal), a description of themeasurement techniques and the factors influencing the emissions.
Another question raised during the discussions was whether it was useful to include emission factors in the
database that were related to activity data that were not available in national statistical publications. The
workshop participants did not reach any conclusion on this question.

4 (b) Data sources
Data source options include:• The IPCC Guidelines and the Good Practice Report;• UNFCCC secretariat (Information on emission factors and other estimation parameters, officiallysubmitted to UNFCCC secretariat);• Scientific literature;• National greenhouse gas inventory agencies 8;• Existing (partial) databases or inventory guidelines from other organisations 9.

C

DEVELOPMENT OF THE DATABASE

5 Selection of computer software
The database should probably use a relational structure. Furthermore, an object-oriented structure may
be necessary to allow for different information requirements (represented by database fields) in different
IPCC source/sink categories.
The database should be user friendly and have sorting tools built in. The user should be able to extract
any selection of emission factors and to export these to:

−
−
−
−
8

A widely used commercial spreadsheet format (e.g. Excel);A widely used simple database format (e.g. dBase IV);
A comma separated text file;
A fixed length text file;

Inventory agencies may have contracted research to develop country-specific emission factors. The results may

not have been published.
9
Several organisations have developed databases on GHG emission factors for one or more IPCC source
categories. Examples are IRRI, USEPA and EMEP/CORINAIR. Modalities of collaboration, such as
establishing linkages (to the specific database via the internet) or agreements on mutual reproduction of data,need to be considered.

9−Paper.

It seems best to use a database that can be downloaded from the internet or can be made available on a
CD-ROM, and not an online web-based database. Many countries do not have cheap, reliable highspeed internet connection lines. Working with an online database would be too slow and costly. Webbased software could be considered in the future, paying due consideration to its cost-effectiveness.
It was suggested to connect to (XML)10 developments to facilitate data transfer.

6 Proposed work plan for the development of the database
The workshop participants drafted a preliminary work plan with a tentative time schedule as follows.
1. Planning for the development of the database. This meeting fulfils this function.
2. Implementation on a task by task basis.
Task

ActivityTeam

End date

Functional design

Draft the information structure,subject to the functions theinformation is to fulfil.
This functional design isindependent of the actual
software to be used.
Implement functional design
into technical design.
This technical design issoftware-dependent.
Computer programming

Structure designers

January 2001

Structure designers andsoftware designers

March 2001
First expert
meeting

Software designers

Data screening and import

Data Managers

September
2001
December 2001

Data retrieval andmanipulation

Users

Technical design

Prototype construction
Partial population of thedatabase for test purposes
Database beta test

Implementation ofprocedures for maintenance,
operation, updating

December 2001
Second expert
meeting

Data suppliers, data
editors, data managers

10

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the universal format for structured documents and data on
the internet. XML is a set of rules or guidelines to design text formats in a way that produces files that areeasy to generate and read by a computer. The format allows for inclusion of meta-information, facilitatingexchange of information between different applications.

10

D

LONG TERM ASSESSMENT OF THE DATABASE

7 Hosting and sustainability
The Technical Support Unit of the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme could hostthe prototype database. The TSU would have to cooperate with a network of institutions and scientists.
IPCC Working Groups I and III have a web site hosted by an outside organisation. So not all IPCC
Working Groups host their own web site.

8 Data collection procedures
A wide range of partners, specified through an agreed procedure (e.g. national inventory compilers or
scientists), could be allowed to propose emission factors in a standard format, for inclusion into the
database. This would require some information pre-processing by the data supplier and would reduce theworkload of the database host. Data could be submitted using an Electronic Discussion Group or by email.
Special encoding protocols such as XML may be helpful.
Countries could be asked to nominate experts who will participate in the database project, either at thestage of database development or of database population.
Regular meetings of emission factor experts, organised by source category, would help data collection.
Currently, no budget is available for such meetings. The TSU should consult the Task Force Bureau for the
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme or the IPCC Bureau to see if additional funds could bemade available.
The UNECE representative explained that the UNECE uses expert panels for the collection of emission
factors in Europe. About 50 people per expert panel meet once a year to assess progress and agree on awork plan for the next period. The expert panels are organised by source category, such as combustion &industry, transport, agriculture and nature. These expert panels work during the year and are co-ordinatedvia e-mail by the panel leader. Small groups meet if the need arises and resources are available.
The USEPA used 10 people full-time for 1.5 years to create the FIRE emission factor database. This effort
represented data retrieval directly from readily available references such as AP-42 and a search throughtest reports and literature. The effort did not include design and conduct of emission factor experiments.
They found it unproductive to process emission factor research reports.
The information provided in the Atmospheric Emission Inventory Guidebook (EMEP/CORINAIR) is very
extensive. It is available on the internet. The information has been made available in text not databaseformat. Copying emission factors plus scientific background information into the emissions factors
database proposed here may necessitate a considerable amount of person-hours, which would require
special institutional arrangements. It needs to be investigated as to whether or not the information can becopied in an automated manner.
The database needs to be advertised and certain capacity building efforts will be required to promote
population and use of the database.

11

9 Quality control: options for inclusion of information and peer review
The workshop participants considered the following options:• Including emission factors from every possible source. Low quality information is preferred to
no information. Only un-referenced data should be excluded.
• Include data from all possible sources, and indicate in a field whether or not data has been
submitted through official channels• Carefully screen information through regular expert meetings, organised by source category.
These teams could work in anticipation of the revision of the IPCC Guidelines. This is
obviously ideal, but might require significant financial and institutional resources that are notcurrently available. The practical implementation of this needs further discussion.
• Submit data through a limited number of data providers, who would pre-screen the data, inorder to maintain quality control. Emission factors could , for example, be submitted throughgovernments.
One participant raised the question of whether a database of, say, one million emission factors could betransparent.

10 Funding
Costs include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Functional design of the database;Technical design of the database;Computer programming; (may be a minor cost element if standard software is used)
Data research;
Data peer review;
Data input;
Workshops (venue, travel);
Maintenance of database (server);Dissemination of results (sending out CD-ROMs).

Cost scenarios depend on the division of work between partners. Potential partners are:••••

The Technical Support Unit of the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme 11;
National governments;
Regional institutions or international organisations;
Universities.

Organisations that could provide data to the database could be requested to supply the data in a standard
format.
The USEPA would look into the possibility of making a database programmer available to the project.

11

TSU will provide a time-limited in kind contribution. The workshop participants suggested that the TSU could

host the prototype database.

12

If the work programme envisages a high quality product, it will be easier to find funds or generate interest
from other parties.

11 Copyright/intellectual property restrictions
All information within the database will be freely available to all users. Copyright matters arising whenobtaining information for the database need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. In particular,•••

Scientific journals: if necessary ask permission to copy emission factor information.
National greenhouse gas inventory agencies: if necessary ask permission to copy emission factor
information.
Existing (partial) databases: negotiate with the compilers of the databases the terms on which
information could be shared.

12 Distribution of the database••

Internet.
For users without access to Internet: CD-ROM or diskettes possibly split per sector.

13 Working language
English should be the working language. Workshop participants agreed that some provisions should bemade for submission of information in other UN languages. They also agreed that this issue should be
discussed further.

13

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Branca Americano, Ms
Ministry of Science and Technology of Brazil
FURNAS,
BrazilAlexander Nakhutin, Dr
Institute of Global Climate and Ecology
Russian Federation
Todd Ngara, Dr
Ministry of Mines, Environment and Tourism
Zimbabwe

Wiley Barbour, Mr
US EPA
United States
A.D. Bhide, Dr
National Environmental
institute (NEERI)
India

Engineering

Wanda Pazdan, Ms
ATMOTERM
PolandResearch

Tinus Pulles, Dr
TNO MEP
Netherlands

Pascal Boeckx, Dr
Ghent University
Dept of Applied Analytical and Physical Chemistry
Belgium

Daniela Romano, Ms
National Environment Protection Agency (ANPA)
Italy

Goutbi Elhassan Nagmeldin, Mr
Higher Council for Environment & Natural Resources
Sudan

Michael Strogies, Mr
Federal Environmental Agency
Germany

Chia Ha, Ms
Environment Canada
CanadaGalina Aleksandrovna Tolkacheva, Dr
Central Asian Research Hydrometeorological InstituteRepublic of Uzbekistan

Gabriel Hernandez, Mr
Latin American Energy Organisation (OLADE)
EcuadorR Uma, Ms
Tata Energy Research Institute
India

Carlos Lopez, Dr
Instituto de Meteorologia
Cuba

Mike Woodfield, Mr
AEA Technology
United Kingdom

Joe Mangino, Mr
Eastern Research Group
United States

Chen Zhenlin, Mr

Katarina Mareckova, Dr
SHMUSlovak Republic

China Meteorological Administration
China

Department of Forecasting Services andDisaster Mitigation

Stelios Pesmajoglou, Mr
UNFCCC Secretariat

Maxwell Muyambo, Dr
SIRDC-Energy Technology InstituteZimbabwe

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Taka Hiraishi, Mr
National Institute for Environmental Studies
IPCC-NGGIP/TFBSal Emmanuel, Mr
IPCC-NGGIP/TSU
Leandro Buendia, Mr
IPCC-NGGIP/TSU
Jeroen Meijer, Mr
IPCC-NGGIP/TSU
Kyoko Miwa, Ms
IPCC-NGGIP/TSU

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ANNEXES
Presentations:
1. Tinus Pulles: “Establishing a database on GHG emission factors”
2. Leandro Buendia: “Database on methane emissions from rice fields”
3. Wanda Pazdan: “Achievements of Phare Topic Link on Air Emissions in the field of emission
factors”
4. Mike Woodfield: “Experiences of the UNECE Task Force on Emission Inventories”
5. Stelios Pesmajoglou: “Activities of the UNFCCC in relation to GHG inventories and views on
the IPCC emission factors database”
6. Jeroen Meijer: “Activity data collection mechanism of the International Energy Agency for its
CO2 emissions database – relevant highlights”
7. R. Uma: “Emission factors for GHGs from small scale combustion”

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