The international community acknowledges human-induced greenhouse gas emissions as a primary driver of climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) released in 2021, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has significantly increased since 1750, primarily due to human activities. In response to climate change, global efforts must be intensified. The 2015 Paris Agreement, established during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 21, agreed to limit the global average temperature increase to no more than 2°C, emphasizing the urgent need for global action.
In the realm of mitigation, transparency becomes increasingly crucial, and the National Inventory Report (NIR) serves as a key foundation for providing information on greenhouse gas emissions and their variations. The NIR plays a critical role in the global climate change agenda, being submitted by governments based on the requirements of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol (KP), documenting and reporting each country's greenhouse gas emissions. This information guides policymakers in formulating and implementing national mitigation strategies.
Since the end of 2012, the Environmental Protection Administration of Taiwan established the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Review Meeting, completing the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Reports for 2014 and 2015. Starting from 2015, following the enactment of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act that has been officially renamed Climate Change Response Act in 2023, the central authority is obligated to compile the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report annually, as stipulated by Article 13 of the Act and Article 12 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act that has been officially renamed Regulations for the Implementation of Climate Change Response Act in 2023. The National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report for 2023 has been publicly disclosed.
Furthermore, in accordance with Article 12 of Climate Change Response Act and Articles 8 and 9 of the Regulations for the Implementation of Climate Change Response Act, the results of the National Inventory serve as the basis for assessing the setting of reduction targets and the effectiveness of reduction policies for different sectors and stages in Taiwan. This means that Taiwan, through the periodic compilation of the Inventory Report, assesses and reviews the achievement of reduction targets, adjusting corresponding reduction policies accordingly. Overall, this measure helps ensure that Taiwan's efforts in addressing climate change are based on the latest scientific data and provides opportunities for continuous improvement.
With a growing emphasis on international greenhouse gas-related data and reporting both domestically and internationally, the Paris Agreement mandates that parties submit Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR) by December 31, 2024, in accordance with the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). This underscores a high level of attention to the Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) mechanism, ensuring that countries fulfill their emission reduction commitments. In the trend of more attention on international GHG data and report, this project aims to grasp the negotiation progress of the relative modalities under UNFCCC and PA and the tendency of international emissions. Besides it focuses on assisting Taiwan EPA to construct and promote the systematic operational mechanism for national GHG inventory, including the operation of review committee of national GHG inventory, maintain and update the web-basis registry platform of national GHG inventory based on 2006 IPCC guideline, confirm the statistical scope of carbon sinks in wetlands system, refinement of refrigerant usage and emission statistics of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, complete 2022 Taiwan NIR, compile draft national report(Chinese and English Edition), establish a webpage for the 2022 inventory and compiling a executive summary in English summary for promoting understanding of the public on national GHG inventory.
The main objectives of this project include:
1.Assist Taiwan EPA to operate the review meetings of national GHG inventory committee, and complete to compile and publish Taiwan 2022 NIR and 2023 NIR.
2.Estimate greenhouse gas emissions by category according to the Climate Change Response Act, and analyze the effect of greenhouse gas reduction to explore the causes of changes in greenhouse gas emissions
3.Establish a standardized statistical framework and methods for wetland carbon sinks in line with international standards, and refine Taiwan carbon sink data.
４.Analyze international HFCs emission reduction strategies, establish Taiwan localization coefficients, estimate and analyze reduction potentials.
