Brussels, 15.12.2006

COM(2006) 799 final

 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION

Assigned Amount Report of the European Union

(required under Article 7(1) of Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol)

1.           INTRODUCTION

This report is a summary of the technical report prepared by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to be submitted on behalf of the European Community (EC) to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount pursuant to Art. 7 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol (KP), and demonstrate its capacity to account for its emissions and assigned amount for the first commitment period under the KP (the “assigned amount” report).

The KP was ratified by the EC and its Member States (MS) on 31 May 2002. At this ratification, the Community declared that it and its MS would fulfil their respective emission limitation and reduction commitments under Art. 3(1) of the Protocol jointly in accordance with Art. 4 thereof. At the time of ratification, the following 15 States were members of the EC: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. These were also the 15 states that were members of the EC when the KP was adopted in December 1997. In accordance with Art. 4(4) of the KP, the accession of 10 additional MS after the adoption of the Protocol does not affect the Community’s commitments under the Protocol. For this reason, the Community’s calculation of its assigned amount refers to the 15 MS listed above (EU-15). The assigned amount report also presents information for the eight new MS that have quantified emission limitation or reduction obligations under the KP (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia). Cyprus and Malta do not have a quantified emission limitation or reduction obligation under the KP and are therefore not included in this report.

According to UNFCCC Decision 13/CMP.1(Modalities for the accounting of assigned amounts under Art. 7(4) of the KP), the assigned amount report should consist of two parts as presented below.

2.           PART 1

a) Complete inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases (GHG)

The complete inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol for all years from 1990 to 2004 are included in Annex I (EC inventory report) and Annex II (Common reporting format tables for EU-15 and EU-25) of the EC “assigned amount” report as prepared by the EEA. The information included in these GHG inventories is the basis for the calculation of the assigned amount of the EC as presented in this Communication.

b) Identification of the European Community’s selected base year for HFCs, PFCs and SF₆ in accordance with Art. 3(8)

The base year emissions of the EC are the sum of the respective base year emissions of the 15 MS that agreed to jointly fullfill their respective commitments under Art. 3 of the KP. This rule also refers to the base year for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆). For these gases, Parties included in Annex I of the KP can select either 1995, in accordance with Art. 3(8) of the KP, or the base year for other Annex A greenhouse gases (mostly 1990). Austria, France and Italy selected 1990 as the base year for theses gases, all other MS chose 1995. The base year for all other GHG emissions under the KP is 1990 for the EU-15.

The base year for HFCs, PFCs and SF₆ for the new MS with commitments under the KP is 1995, except for Slovakia which chose 1990 as base year for fluorinated gases. The base year for all other GHG emissions under the KP is 1990, except for Poland (1988), Slovenia (1986) and Hungary (1985-87).

c) The agreement under Article 4, where the Party has reached such an agreement to fulfil the commitment under Article 3 jointly with other Parties

The KP, under Art. 4, provides the option for Parties to fulfil their respective commitments under Art. 3 jointly, acting in the framework of and together with a regional economic integration organisation. The agreement of the EC and its MS to fulfill the respective commitments under Art. 3(1) of the KP jointly (the joint fulfilment agreement) established quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments for the Community and its MS for the first commitment period, from 2008 to 2012. These commitments define the MS’ assigned amount under the KP. The full text of this agreement is contained in the Council Decision approving the KP[1] and was notified to the UNFCCC Secretariat upon ratification by the Community and its MS.

d) Calculation of its assigned amount pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8) on the basis of the inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol

The EC’s assigned amount pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8) is equal to the percentage inscribed for the Community in Annex B of the KP (92 %) of its base year emissions multiplied by five. The Community base year emissions are 4,276,359,577 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂ eq.) and are equal to the sum of base year emissions of greenhouse gases for EU-15. The assigned amounts for the EC and its MS resulting from this calculation are determined in Decision xxx/2006/EC[2]. The Community’s assigned amount is 19,682,555,325 tonnes of CO₂ eq. The calculations of the Community’s assigned amount and the respective assigned amounts of each MS are set out in Table 1. The assigned amounts for the new MS are set out in Table 2. The assigned amount for each MS is to be issued in that MS's registry.

The revision of MS emissions data for the base-year under the KP results in an arithmetic difference of 11,403,608 tonnes of CO₂ eq. between the assigned amount for the EC and the sum of the assigned amounts of each of the EU-15 MS. In accordance with Decision xxx/2006/EC this difference is to be issued as assigned amount units in the EC registry.

Table 1: Base year emissions and assigned amounts of the European Community and MS included in the joint fulfilment agreement

Member State/EC	Base year emissions	Emissions in 1990 due to deforestation (Art. 3(7) Kyoto Protocol)	Quantified emission reduction commitment (Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol)	Calculated assigned amount
	Tonnes CO2 eq.	Tonnes CO2 eq.	%	Tonnes CO2 eq.
European Community	4,276,359,577	1,619,634	92%	19,682,555,325
			Quantified emission limitation or reduction commitment as in joint fulfilment agreement
Austria	78,959,404	N/A	87%	343,473,407
Belgium	146,890,526	N/A	92.5%	679,368,682
Denmark	69,323,336	No emissions from deforestation	79%	273,827,177
Finland	71,096,195	N/A	100%	355,480,975
France	563,925,328	N/A	100%	2,819,626,640
Germany	1,232,536,951	N/A	79%	4,868,520,955
Greece	111,054,072	N/A	125%	694,087,947
Ireland	55,780,237	No emissions from deforestation	113%	315,158,338
Italy	519,464,323	N/A	93.5%	2,428,495,710
Luxembourg	12,688,140	N/A	72%	45,677,304
Netherlands	214,588,451	280,212	94%	1,008,565,720
Portugal	60,938,032	973,829	127%	386,956,503
Spain	289,385,637	N/A	115%	1,663,967,412
Sweden	72,281,599	N/A	104%	375,864,317
United Kingdom	779,904,144	365,593	87.5%	3,412,080,630

* Base year emissions exclude emissions and removals from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector, but include emissions due to deforestation for those MS that can apply Article 3(7) of the KP. Several MS updated their GHG inventories for the purpose of this report in comparison with the greenhouse gas inventory submitted in April 2006 to the UNFCCC.

Table 2: Base year emissions and assigned amounts of new MS with commitments under Art. 3 of the KPMember State	Base year emissions excluding LULUCF	Emissions in 1990 due to deforestation that can be accounted under Art 3.7 of the Kyoto Protocol	Quantified emission reduction commitment (Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol)	Calculated assigned amount
	Tonnes CO2 eq.		%	Tonnes CO2 eq
Czech Republic	196,280,576	N/A	92%	902,890,649
Estonia	43,022,295	N/A	92%	197,902,558
Hungary	123,034,090	N/A	94%	578,260,222
Latvia	25,894,218	N/A	92%	119,113,402
Lithuania	48,103,464	N/A	92%	221,275,934
Poland[3]	565,829,000	N/A	94%	2,673,496,300
Slovakia	73,360,100	N/A	92%	337,456,459
Slovenia	20,203,252	N/A	92%	92,934,961

3.           Part 2

a) Calculation of the commitment period reserve in accordance with decision 11/CMP.1

The Commitment Period Reserve (CPR) is the lowest of either 90 per cent of a Party's assigned amount calculated pursuant to Art. 3(7) and 3(8), of the KP, or 100 per cent of five times the most recently reviewed inventory. Table 3 presents the CPRs for the EU-15 MS and the European Community. Table 4 shows the commitment period reserves for new MS with quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments under Art. 3 of the KP.

Table 3: CPR of the EC and EU-15 MS

Table 4: CPRs of new MS with commitments under Art. 3 of the KP

b) Identification of the selection of single minimum values for tree crown cover, land area and tree height for use in accounting under Art. 3(3) and 3(4)

MS have selected threshold values for the forest definition for reporting on the activities afforestation, reforestation and deforestation under Art. 3(3) of the KP. As the EC aggregates MS’ information, MS selected threshold values for the required single minimum values for tree crown cover, land area, and tree height in accordance with the forest definition used for reporting to the FAO. Table 5 presents an overview on MS’ selections as reported in their reports to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount. Table 6 shows the same overview for the new MS.

Table 5: EU-15 MS’ selection of threshold values for the forest definition for reporting under Art. 3(3)

Table 6: New MS’ selection of threshold values for the forest definition for reporting under Art. 3(3)

c) Identification of the election of activities under Art. 3(4) for inclusion in the accounting for the first commitment period

Art. 3(4) of the KP provides the option of including the activities forest management, cropland management, grazing land management and revegetation in the accounting of emissions and removals for the first commitment period. MS decided on the election of these activities in their national reporting under the KP. The EC’s inventory and assigned amount calculation is based on the election of activities by the EU-15. Table 7 presents an overview of the EU-15 MS’ elections of activities under Art. 3(4) as reported in their reports to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount. Table 8 shows the decision on elections under Art. 3(4) taken by new MS.

Table 7: EU-15 MS of elections of activities under Art. 3(4)

Table 8: New MS’ elections of activities under Art. 3(4)

d) Identification of frequency of accounting for each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4)

MS identify the accounting frequency for the activities under Art. 3(3) and 3(4) in their respective reports to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount. Table 9 and Table 10 reflect MS’ choices.

Table 9: EU-15 MS’ choice of accounting frequency

Member State	Annual accounting for each activity under 3(3) and 3(4)	Accounting at the end of the first commitment period for
Austria		each activity under Art. 3(3)
Belgium		each activity under Art. 3(3)
Denmark	X
Finland		each activity under Art. 3(3), Not decided for activities under Art. 3(4)
France	X
Germany	Not decided	Not decided
Greece	Not decided	Not decided
Ireland		each activity under Art. 3(3)
Italy		each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4)
Luxembourg		each activity under Art. 3(3)
Netherlands		each activity under Art. 3(3)
Portugal		each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4)
Spain		each activity under Art. 3(3) and 3(4)
Sweden		each activity under Art. 3(3) and forest mgmt. under Art. 3(4)
United Kingdom		each activity under Art. 3(3) and forest mgmt. under Art. 3(4)

Table 10: New MS’ choice of accounting frequency

Member State	Annual accounting	Accounting at the end of the first commitment period for
Czech Republic		each activity under Art. 3(3) and forest mgmt. under Art. 3(4)
Estonia		each activity under Art. 3(3)
Hungary	each activity under Art. 3(3) and forest mgmt. under Art. 3(4)
Latvia		each activity under Art. 3(3)
Lithuania		each activity under Art. 3(3) and forest mgmt. under Art. 3(4)
Poland		each activity under Art. 3(3) and forest mgmt. under Art. 3(4)
Slovakia		each activity under Art. 3(3)
Slovenia		each activity under Art. 3(3) and forest mgmt. under Art. 3(4)

Each MS will account for net emissions and removals for each activity under Art. 3(3), and Art. 3(4) if elected, by issuing RMUs or cancelling KP units based on the corresponding reported emissions and removals from these acticities and the specific accounting rules. The EC will neither issue, nor cancel units based on the reported emissions and removals from activities under Art. 3(3) and 3(4). The EC will report the sum of MS’ cumulative accounting quantities for these activities at the end of the commitment period, representing the MS’ cumulative additions to or subtractions from their assigned amount at the end of the commitment period.

e) A description of the national system in accordance with Art. 5(1) reported in accordance with the guidelines for the preparation of the information required under Article 7 of the Kyoto Protocol

The objectives of the EC’s inventory system are to ensure accuracy, comparability, consistency, completeness, transparency and timeliness of the inventories submitted by the MS and the Community to the UNFCCC in accordance with the UNFCCC Guidelines for annual inventories.

Figure 1 illustrates the inventory system of the EC. The Directorate General of the European Commission (DG Environment) is responsible for preparing the inventory of the EC while each Member State is responsible for the preparation of its own inventory which serves as the basis for the inventory of the EC. The following institutions support DG Environment in the preparation of the inventory: the EEA and its European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC) as well as the following other DGs of the European Commission: Eurostat, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC).

Figure 1: Inventory system of the EC

The European Commission, Directorate-General for the Environment

DG Environment in consultation with the MS has the overall responsibility for the Community’s inventory. MS are required to submit their national inventories and inventory reports under Decision 280/2004/EC[4] of the European Parliament and of the Council to the European Commission, DG Environment; and the European Commission, DG Environment itself submits the inventory and inventory report of the EC to the UNFCCC Secretariat.

·      The Climate Change Committee (CCC) established under Art. 9 of Decision 280/2004/EC assists the Commission. The Committee is composed of representatives of the MS and chaired by a representative of the Commission. Working Group 1 “Annual inventories” has been established under the CCC as a regular body for the exchange of information between the European Commission (DG Environment, Eurostat, JRC (Joint Research Centre)), EEA (ETC/ACC) and the MS.

The European Environment Agency (EEA)

The EEA assists DG Environment, through the work of the ETC/ACC. The ETC/ACC supports the EEA in the following activities:

·      Preparation of initial checks of MS’ submissions in cooperation with Eurostat, and the JRC, up to 28 February and circulation of the results of initial checks (status reports, consistency and completeness reports);

·      Consultation with MS in order to clarify data and other information provided;

·      Preparation and circulation of the draft EC inventory and inventory report by 28 February based on MS’ submissions;

·      Preparation of the final EC inventory and inventory report by 15 April (to be submitted by the Commission to the UNFCCC Secretariat);

·      Assisting MS in their reporting of GHG inventories by means of supplying software tools;

·      Maintenance of the inventory database and of the inventory archives;

·      Implementation of the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures for the EC inventory as outlined in the EC’s QA/QC programme;

The specific activities of the EEA and ETC/ACC are outlined in the respective yearly management plans. The tasks of the EEA and the ETC/ACC are facilitated by the European environmental information and observation network (Eionet), which consists of the EEA as central node (supported by European topic centres) and national institutions in the EEA member countries that supply and/or analyse national data on the environment (see http://eionet.eea.eu.int/). The MS are encouraged to use the central data repository under the Eionet for making available their GHG submissions to the European Commission and the ETC/ACC (see http://cdr.eionet.eu.int/).

The European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC)

The ETC/ACC was established by a contract between the lead organisation Milieu- en Natuurplanbureau (MNP) in the Netherlands and EEA in March 2001. An updated framework contract will start from 1 January 2007 and will last for four years until 2010. The ETC/ACC involves 11 organisations and institutions in eight European countries. The specific activities of the ETC/ACC are outlined in the respective yearly management plan.

DG Eurostat

DG Eurostat assists DG Environment and cooperates with the EEA in QA/QC activities as described in the QA/QC programme, focusing on activity data, in particular energy data. The specific activities of DG Eurostat are outlined in the respective yearly management plan.

DG Joint Research Centre (DG JRC)

DG JRC assists DG Environment and cooperates with the EEA in QA/QC activities of the EC inventory, focusing on the sector LULUCF and agriculture. DG JRC performs these activities in close cooperation with the MS and the research community. The specific activities of DG JRC are outlined in the respective yearly management plan.

Member States (MS)

The EC’s inventory is based on the inventories supplied by the MS. The total estimate of the Community’s GHG emissions should accurately reflect the sum of MS’ national GHG inventories. MS are responsible for choosing activity data, emission factors and other parameters used for their national inventories as well as the correct application of methodologies provided in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines, IPCC Good Practice Guidance and IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF. MS are also responsible for establishing QA/QC programmes for their inventories.

The legal basis for the compilation of the EC inventory is Decision 280/2004/EC.

Under Decision 280/2004/EC each Member State is required to establish a national system. The reporting requirements for the MS under Decision 280/2004/EC are further elaborated in the Commission Decision 2005/166/EC laying down rules implementing Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community GHG emissions and for implementing the KP [5].

Annual procedures

The annual process of compilation of the Community’s inventory includes the following core elements: The MS submit their annual GHG inventory by 15 January each year to the European Commission’s DG Environment. Then, the ETC/ACC, Eurostat and the JRC perform initial checks of the submitted data up to 28 February. On 28 February, the draft EC GHG inventory and inventory report are circulated to the MS for their comments. The MS check their national data and information used in the EC inventory report and send updates and comments, if necessary, by 15 March. This procedure assures the timely submission of the EC GHG inventory and inventory report to the UNFCCC Secretariat and guarantees that the EC submission to the UNFCCC Secretariat is consistent with the Member State submissions to the UNFCCC submissions.

Quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) of the European Community inventory

The European Commission (DG Environment) is responsible for coordinating the QA/QC activities for the EC GHG inventory, for ensuring that the objectives of the QA/QC programme are implemented and that a QA/QC plan is developed. The EEA is responsible for the annual implementation of QA/QC procedures for the EC inventory.

As the Community’s inventory is based on the annual inventories of the MS, its quality depends on the quality of the MS’ inventories, the QA/QC procedures of the MS and the quality of the compilation process of the EC inventory. The MS and also the EC as a whole are currently implementing QA/QC procedures in order to comply with the IPCC good practice guidance.

The Community elaborated a QA/QC programme describing the quality objectives and the inventory QA/QC plan including responsibilities and time schedules for the performance of the QA/QC procedures. The Community’s QA/QC programme is reviewed annually and modified or updated as appropriate.

The overall objectives of the EC’s QA/QC programme are:

·      to provide a EC inventory of GHG emissions and removals consistent with the sum of MS’ inventories of GHG emissions and removals;

·      to establish appropriate QA/QC procedures at the EC level in order to comply with the requirements under the UNFCCC and the KP;

·      to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the MS’ inventories, and

·      to provide assistance for the implementation of national QA/QC programmes.

Additional specific objectives have been elaborated in order to ensure that the Community’s inventory complies with the UNFCCC inventory principles of transparency, completeness, consistency, comparability, accuracy and timeliness.

In addition a QA/QC plan was elaborated. This plan lists QC procedures before and during the compilation of the inventory. QA procedures, procedures for documentation and archiving, the time schedules for QA/QC procedures and the provisions related to the inventory improvement plan are also included.

QC procedures are performed at several different stages during the preparation of the EC inventory. Firstly, a range of checks are used to determine the consistency and completeness of MS’ data so that they may be compiled in a transparent manner at Community level. Secondly checks are carried out to ensure that the data are compiled correctly at Community level to meet the overall reporting requirements. Thirdly, a number of checks are conducted with regard to data archiving and documentation to meet various other data quality objectives.

Based on the EC QA/QC programme a quality management manual was developed which includes all specific details of the QA/QC procedures (in particular checklists and forms). The EC quality management manual is structured along three main processes (management processes, inventory compilation processes, supporting processes) of the quality management system.

The quality checks performed during inventory compilation process are the central part of the quality manual. Quality checks are made at three levels: a) Quality control of MS’ submissions, b) Quality control of the EC inventory compilation, and c) Quality checks of the EC inventory report.

f) A description of the national registry, reported in accordance with the guidelines for the preparation of the information required under Article 7 of the Kyoto Protocol

The description of the EC’s national registry follows the reporting guidance set down in Decision 15/CMP.1, part II (Reporting of supplementary information under Art. 7(1), E. National registries) under the KP. The EC registry is maintained by the DG Environment and is currently not operated in a consolidated system with any other Party's registry. The software used for the operation of the EC Registry has been developed for the purposes of allowance trading under both the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the KP. Both require participants’ registries to be compliant with the UN Data Exchange Standards specified for the KP.

Potential discrepancies between the EC Registry and the UN Independent Transaction Log will be minimized using the approach adopted for the Registry system development of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. A number of security measures have also been employed in order to deter unauthorized manipulations and minimize operator error. Public access to relevant information in the EC registry will be granted in accordance with international and EC law and requirements pursuant to the KP.