Reporting national GHG inventories through Common Reporting Tables (CRTs)
An assessment of CRT reporting options through worked examples
The Modalities, Procedures and Guidelines (MPGs) included in Decision 18/CMA.1 adopted
at COP24 in 2018 require all Parties to the Paris Agreement to report national greenhouse
gas (GHG) inventories using “common reporting tables” (CRTs). The same decision requests
the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) is to develop
CRTs for consideration and adoption by COP26. This paper focuses on key issues related
to the potential structure of the CRTs and approaches to filling them in. The paper
assesses different CRT reporting scenarios through worked examples. Overall, the paper
finds that all the tables contained in the set of Common Reporting Formats (CRFs)
currently in use by Annex I Parties provide a valuable starting point for the development
of CRTs. A number of improvements and adjustments, however, need to be applied to
current CRFs to better reflect reporting guidance outlined in the MPGs. This paper
finds that it is important to ensure that the CRTs are designed in a way that allows
for a reporting that is as standardised as possible. This may include allowing for
the use of standardised reporting elements (e.g. notation keys) and amending the tables
according to a new, commonly agreed structure to allow for the reporting of new reporting
elements. Using a common format while also facilitating standardised reporting can
positively affect a number of processes, including the technical expert review and
automated processing of information, thereby promoting transparency, comparability
and consistency of GHG-inventory reporting.
Published on December 11, 2020
In series:OECD/IEA Climate Change Expert Group Papersview more titles