Approximated EU GHG inventory for the year 2007 ETC/ACC Technical Paper 2008/14

Summary
The national GHG inventories of the EU-27 under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol are only available with a delay of 1.5 years (Y-2). For the assessment of the status of emission reductions compared to targets under the Kyoto Protocol and the EU burden sharing agreement during the first commitment period, it would be useful to have inventory data in the year after the emissions occurred (Y-1). This would enable governments an improved planning of their activities to ensure compliance with Kyoto targets at the end of the first commitment period.

This report presents GHG emissions for EU Member States, EU-15 and EU-27 for the year 2007 (Y-1). Methodologies were developed to derive GHG emissions from data sources that are published in the year after the emissions occur. This development caused this first time only some delay, which will not happen in future years.

The approximated estimation for the year 2007 based on aggregate methodologies total EU emissions (without LULUCF) decline in 2007 by -1.5% for EU-15 and by -1.3% for EU-27 compared to the previous year. Total emissions in 2007 will be -3.7% below the 1990 level for EU-15 and almost -9% for EU-27.

The largest emission reductions between 2006 and 2007 at sectoral level will occur in the energy sector: -71 Mt CO2eq (2.1%) for EU-15 and -73.3 Mt CO2eq (1.8%) for EU-27. This decline in the energy sector is partly due to a mild winter in 2007 and partly due to the fuel price increase in 2007, resulting in reduced consumption. GHG emissions increase in the industrial processes sector where the increase is higher for new Member States. The agriculture sector remain constant for EU-15 and show a decline for EU-27. The waste sector is expected to show small emission reductions for both EU-15 and EU-27.

Prepared by: ETC/ACC member Julia Busche, Ralph Harthan, Anke Herold, Felix Christian Matthes, Hans-Joachim Ziesing

Published by: ETC/ACC, December 2008, 166 pp.