REReP regional meeting on “Energy and climate” in South Eastern Europe May rd, 2008 Brussels, Belgium Reporting obligations under EU climate change framework. SEE countries: possibilities to learn from new Member States experience Maria Khovanskaya Climate Change Department

Objectives of the presentation Present basic reporting requirements under the Convention and Kyoto Protocol for the Annex I Parties Present additional climate change reporting requirements under EU (including EU ETS) Discuss the scope of capacity-building activities for establishment such system for GHG accounting, monitoring and reporting WHY?

Outline of the presentation 1.Status of the SEE countries: Under the Convention and Kyoto Protocol; In the EU Accession Process; Observed discrepancies and needs for synchronization; Accounting, monitoring and reporting – important matters for the success of combating of global warming 2.Current reporting obligations of non-Annex I Parties 3.Reporting obligations of an Annex I Party and requirements Annual reporting cycle; Recent reporting activities prior to the start of the 1 st Commitment period; Оther reports (National Communications, other submissions). 4.(Additional) reporting obligations of a EU member state as contribution towards fulfilling reporting obligations of European Community Monitoring Mechanism (Decision 280/2004/EC)Monitoring Mechanism (Decision 280/2004/EC) EU ETSEU ETS 5.Lessons learnt from recent accession history of EU-12 and suggested capacity building needs.

Status of the SEE countries under UNFCCC and KP and EU Accession process Status of the SEE countries (except Croatia and Slovenia) under the Convention/Protocol: Non-Annex I under the Convention; Non Annex B under the Protocol Some ambiguity (neither developing countries nor economies in transition) Croatia – Annex I, Economy in Transition, Annex B European Community is a Party as the only regional economic integration organization (as well as all 27 current member states): Annex I of the Convention; Annex B of the Protocol (with 8% emission reduction target in the first commitment period); True: European Community should comply with the target as old EU-15; However, reporting obligations for the new MS are the same as for EU-15; Highly unlikely that in post-Kyoto reporting obligations will become less stringent Observed discrepancies: At present two different sets of obligations (Annex I vs. non Annex I, Annex B vs. Non Annex B) : SEE countries do not have either moral responsibility for the accumulated carbon polution, or reduction targets and, thus, emission quota Different sets of reporting

Status of the SEE countries under UNFCCC and KP and EU Accession process (cont) What will happen when non-Annex I, non Annex B countries join the EU, and hence the European Community which is clearly an Annex I, Annex B? I do not know ; Post-Kyoto negotiations might bring many changes but not to the accounting and reporting since these are the keys to the successful combating of global warming; First guesstimate: SEE countries can be asked to join the Annex I. Wide range of implications. On accounting and reporting as well; Second quesstimate: SEE countries might be asked to accept some additional obligations (for instance, join EU ETS) In any case, the accounting and reporting obligations become more strict.

Current reporting obligations of the non-Annex I Parties Convention (Articles 4.1 and 12): all Parties must report on the steps they are taking or envisage undertaking to implement the Convention. In accordance with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities", the required contents of these national communications and the timetable for their submission is different for Annex I and non-Annex I Parties. Each non-Annex I Party shall submit its initial communication within three years of the entry into force of the Convention for that Party, or of the availability of financial resources Core elements of the non-Annex I National Communications: emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs) – year 1990 or 1994 for the initial NC and year 2000 for the Second NC ; details of the activities a Party has undertaken to implement the Convention national circumstances vulnerability assessment, financial resources and transfer of technology, and education, training and public awareness Bi-annual reporting on the state of transposition of the environmental EU Directives into national legislation

Case study for GHG accounting, monitoring and reporting system of a hypotethical new EU MS, EiT The new MS have good incentives for proper accounting and reporting: eligibility to particiate in the flexible mechanisms is at stake; They have done this successfully: eligibility granted by the Compliance Committee to almost all of the REC’s beneficiary countries; I will omit the reporting requirements for Annex I countries in

Reporting of an new EU MS (Annex I, Annex B) under the UNFCCC and KP Types of reports by period of submission National Communications (every 5 years); Initial report to establish assigned amount (once prior to commitment period); Report on demonstrable Progress (once in 2006); Inventories for GHG emissions by sources and removals by sinks (annually); Annual report (submitted only in the first committment period, annually) Small trick: the Annual report is not mandatory in the years However, to get full eligibiity it is…still mandatory. Submissions of the Parties under various Decisions of COPs and COP/MOPs (as hoc basis)

Source: Claire Breidenich, UNFCCC, presentation at REC workshop, October 2006

National Communications Content National circunstances National Inventory System National Registry Article 2 polices and measures Legislative, enforcement and administrative arrangements Technology transfer, capacity building and other Article 10 activities Financial resources GHG emissions projections by gas and sector Systematic observations, vulnerability assessment, impact assessment, adaptation measures Timing: next NC (Fifth) should be submitted in 2010 Revisions – yes, implications- ambigious

Report on Demonstrable Progress Content Domestic measures GHG trends How measures will help meet commitments Article 10 and 11 activities Timing – once, required submission in 2006 Revisions – yes No consequances for the late submission or/and incomplete information (MS should have submitted this eport prior to 15 October 2005 to ensure European Community preparation od its DPR)

Initial Report Content: GHG Inventory with base year Calculation of assigned amount (Art. 3.7& 8 KP) Calculation of commitment period reserve National registry National inventory system LULUCF definitions and elections Timing Оnce (before January 2007) Revisions YES Results of Expert review team (ERT) reports – to the Compliance Committee Consequances Eligibility – granted after 16 months after submissions Eligibility of some contries have already been suspended

GHG Inventory of emissions by sources and removals by sinks Content: Common Reporting Format (CRF) National Inventory Report (NIR) All sectors (Annex A and Convention LULUCF Tables) Methodology: latest IPCC guidelines Timing Annually. Deadline 15 April Revisions YES Results of Expert review team (ERT) reports – to a Party under review with sugested adjustments Consequances: Eligibility can be withdrawn for Inventory not submitted w/in 6 weeks of due date Omission of Annex A key source that accounts for 7% or more of annual emissions Total adjustments to Annex A sources in a year of the commitment period exceeds 7% of submitted emissions At any point in time, sum of adjustments across years of the commitment period exceeds 20% compared to submitted An adjustments is applied in three consecutive years to key source that accounts for 2% or more of Annex A emissions

Annual Report Content: Accounting for annually elected LULUCF activities Report aggregate holdings and transactions of Kyoto Protocol units in the form of Standard Electronic Format (SEF) Changes in national systems and registries (3.14 (non-quantitative committments) info required, but not relevant for accounting) Timing Annually. Mandatory from In 2008 and optional Revisions YES Results of Expert review team (ERT) reports – to the Compliance Committee Consequances Eligibility can be suspended

It’s not the end of the story…

Reporting obligations under EU European Community is a Party to the Annex I of the Convention and Annex B of the Protocol European Community should make the same submissions as described above BUT on behalf of 27 countries It needs to collect all the information earlier for the further compilation (Decision 280/2004/EC of 11 February 2004 concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. ) New set of deadlines: 15 January – initial GHG Inventory submission to the Commission 28 February – end of internal reviews 15 March – final GHG inventory submission to the Commision

Reporting obligations under EU(cont) Progress Evaluation Report Under the Monitoring Mechanism, the European Commission has to assess, whether the actual and projected progress of Member States is sufficient to ensure fulfilment of the EC's commitments under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol; Commission has to prepare a progress evaluation report, which has to be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council by October each year; Member States have to submit their respective reports by end of May – beginning of July once in two years Content: Projections of economic indicators for the economy as a whole and by sector Projections of the GHG State of implementation of CCPM (climate related Directives) State of Flexible Mechanisms

Reporting obligations under EU(cont) EU ETS 31 March – verified reports from the installations should be submitted to the respective authorities NAP preparation- not any more. But some kind of preparatory reporting should be expected.

Draft reporting schedule a a new MS in January – submission of Fifth National Communication 15 January – submission to the Commision of draft GHG inventory 28 February – 15 March – incorporation of the adjustments suggested by the Commission 15 March – final GHG inventory submission to the Commision 31 March – collecting verified reports from EU ETS installations 15 April – GHG inventory and Annual report (with ESF) submission to the UNFCCC (Suggested adjustments will be done after ERT evaluation subject to the ERT availability) May – Progress evaluation report to the Commission…

Suggested capacity-building activities As soon as possible notify the DG Enlargement and DG Environment about the dilemma of being a non-Annex I country within European Comunity; Should be brought to the agenda of post-Kyoto negotiations; Discuss with DG Environment which reporting tasks they might have in mind for Accession and Candidate Countries; Useful practicies from the experience of EU-12 Assigned insitution to perform all climate related reporting activities (for instance, Nationa Emission Center in Poland); Special line in a state budget for inventory preparation˛- sustainability; Mandate to provide sectoral information for the Inventory preparation; Do not duplicate the tasks – several tasks (emission factors for certain activities) can be the same under EU ETS, UNFCCC. CDM developers can also do their fair share like calculating emission factor for the electricity grid; Assured sustainability; Sufficient human capital…. Your ideas?

I would like to thank Mr. Vlad Trusca (National Focal Point, Romania) for his kind help in preparation of this presentation. Thank you for your attention!