National system for monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gases and guidelines
The Netherlands maintains a national system for monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gases for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as for the European Union (EU) monitoring and reporting obligations.
National system
This national system assures the quality of annual greenhouse gas inventory reports to the UNFCCC and EU and ensures their suitability to demonstrate compliance with relevant requirements. It is maintained by RVO as per our role as National Inventory Entity (NIE).
The core of the national system is the PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register, in Dutch: emissieregistratie (ER). The PRTR holds one national dataset for emission inventories covering around 350 pollutants to air, water and soil, and is coordinated by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).
Main elements of the national system
- Definition and allocation of the specific roles, responsibilities and tasks.
- Methodology reports; describing methods for emission calculations.
- Agreements on the basic institutional, legal and organisational structure, including the designation of the 'single national entity'. These agreements have been laid down in contracts, legal arrangements and covenants. This also includes a legal basis for the monitoring of greenhouse gases.
- A QA/QC programme which is implemented to assure quality and to comply with IPCC requirements.
UN Guidelines
The guidelines for annual greenhouse gas inventories under the Climate Change Convention and the Paris Agreement are based on the monitoring guidelines and reporting formats established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
- 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
- 2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands
- 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
These IPCC guidelines offer internationally agreed methodologies and best practices for use by countries to estimate GHG emissions to report to the UNFCCC. A UNFCCC Expert Review Team reviews most National Inventory Reports. For this review process formal guidelines have also been established.
Other National Reports such as the National Communication and Biennial Reports cover additional aspects, including policy measures, projections and financing. For these reports supplementary UNFCCC guidance has been developed.
- Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth
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