Climate Change Committee WG1 QA/QC terminology and requirements from the IPCC Good Practice Guidance and the Guidelines for National Inventory Systems Jakob Graichen, ETC-ACC 2 September 2004

2 IPCC Good Practice Guidance QA/QC good practice Objectives: improve transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness and confidence in emission estimates Principles: practicability, acceptability, cost-effectiveness  focus on key sources

3 Definitions QC: system of routine technical activities to measure and control quality of the inventory –Routine and consistent checks to ensure data integrity, correctness and completeness –Identification of errors and omissions –Documentation of inventory material and QC activities QA: procedures include –a planned system of reviews by third parties to assess quality of the inventory and to identify areas for improvement –audits to evaluate QC implementation

4 QA/QC System Elements of a QA/QC System 1.Inventory Agency 2.QA/QC Plan 3.General QC procedures (Tier 1) 4.Source category-specific QC procedures (Tier 2) 5.QA review procedures 6.Verification 7.Reporting, documentation and archiving procedures

5 1) Inventory Agency The inventory agency is responsible for coordinating QA/QC activities is responsible for development and implementation of a QA/QC plan is responsible for implementation of QA/QC procedures in other organisations involved in the inventory preparation should designate a QA/QC coordinator

6 2) QA/QC plan Internal document to organise, plan and implement QA/QC activities Gives an outline of QA/QC activities to be implemented Includes a time frame ISO (or EN) standards can be used in development Good practice to develop a QA/QC plan

7 3) General QC Procedures (Tier 1) General QC checks for processing, handling, documenting, archiving and reporting for all sources Include checks for calculation errors, transcription errors, units, correct aggregation, consistency across categories, completeness, recalculations and comparisons to previous estimates Checks should be automated where possible

8 4) Source Category specific QC (Tier 2) additional to Tier 1 QC activities good practice: apply where emissions are estimated by higher tier methods (key sources) or after major changes not necessary if outside agencies meet minimum QA/QC requirements source category specific QC activities cover –Emission data –Activity data –Uncertainty estimates

9 Source Category specific QC II Emission data QC –IPCC default EF: applicability –Country specific EF: QC checks of background data Comparison to IPCC default factors –Emission measurements: assess methods –Comparisons to previous estimates and reference calculations Activity data QC –National level: assess level of QA/QC activities –Site specific: focus on inconsistencies between sites QC of uncertainty estimates –Confirm calculations and expert judgements

10 5) QA procedures QA procedures shall –assess the quality of the inventory and areas for improvement –be conducted by independent experts Good practice: conduct basic expert peer review prior to submission (Tier 1) Parties may choose to perform more extensive peer reviews or audits (Tier 2)

11 QA procedures II Expert peer review –Objective: ensure that results, assumptions and methods are reasonable –Review of calculations and assumptions –May include stakeholder comments and public review mechanisms Audits –Evaluate QC plan and implementation of QC procedures

12 6) Verification Verification activities can include checks for discontinuities in emission trends –Compared to previous years –Compared to other countries comparisons of emissions, activity data, emission factors and uncertainties with –reference approach –independent national or international estimates –other countries –IPCC default values on-site measurements

13 7) Documentation, Archiving, Reporting Good practice: annually document and archive all information necessary to reproduce inventory Records should be unambiguous Should contain QA/QC checks, audits and reviews including subsequent modifications and corrections Good practice: report a summary and key findings of all implemented QA/QC activities as a supplement to the NIR

14 QA/QC and National Systems As part of the national system, each party shall elaborate an inventory QA/QC plan and establish quality objectives shall implement general QC procedures (Tier 1 QC) should implement source category specific QC procedures (Tier 2 QC) should conduct a basic review of the inventory (Tier 1 QA) should conduct an extensive review of key source categories and categories where significant changes have been made (Tier 2 QA)

15 Thank you for your attention