A/AC.237/81 Page 9 The review and synthesis process 22. The experience of analysing and synthesizing the communications confirmed the usefulness of dialogue with reporting Parties. The in-depth reviews will be important opportunities to obtain a better understanding of the communications and of the actions of Parties to implement the Convention. They should also result in an improved basis for the second synthesis document. The review process has also revealed some aspects of the guidelines for the preparation of communications that would benefit from further work. Time did not permit a systematic review of the guidelines but this could be done by the secretariat for the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice. II. INTRODUCTION A. Background 23. The Framework Convention on Climate Change requires each Party included in Annex I to submit, within six months of the entry into force of the Convention for it, information as specified in Articles 4.2(b) and 12. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee agreed on guidelines for the preparation of first communications by Annex I Parties ("the guidelines") to promote consistency, transparency and comparability among communications3 (see A/AC.237/55, annex I, decision 9/2). 24. The national communications began to come due on 21 September 1994. The following 15 Parties submitted their communications to the interim secretariat in time to be considered in the preparation of this document: These Parties accounted for 41 per cent of global emissions of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion in 1990.4 25. An additional three communications have been received. Those of Hungary and Ireland were submitted before their deadlines but not in time to be considered in the A/AC.237/81 preparation of the present document; that of Monaco was a partial submission. Three Parties required to do so, the European Economic Community, Iceland and Portugal have not submitted communications at the time of writing, although work is in progress: Details regarding the due dates, submission and receipt of the national communications can be found in document A/AC.237/INF.16/Rev.2. 26. B. The review and synthesis process The Committee requested the interim secretariat to prepare a compilation and synthesis of the national communications for consideration at the eleventh session and for subsequent submission to the first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 1) (see A/AC.237/76, annex I, decision 10/1). In responding to this request, the secretariat was assisted by experts it selected from nominations submitted by Governments and intergovernmental organizations. All these persons worked with the secretariat in Geneva. In addition, a number of experts served as special advisers on particular subjects. They worked from their offices but travelled to Geneva for meetings. 27. The Governments of China, Cuba, Italy, the Russian Federation and the United States provided experts as did the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA). Special advisers were from Brazil, Finland, Japan, Netherlands and Thailand. A number of consultants were also engaged, with a view to strengthening the secretariat's present capacitiy and obtaining a better geographical balance in the sources of expertise. 28. The review and synthesis process was marked by very strict deadlines with the aim of making the document available in the official languages of the United Nations for the eleventh session of the Committee. The period from 26 September until 4 November 1994 saw an initial technical analysis of the individual communications and the development of synthesized information. In some cases, additional data were requested from submitting Parties; such data were taken into account to the extent possible. A second phase, from 4 November to 2 December 1994, saw the final drafting of the compilation and synthesis. Experts from Governments and organizations were involved principally in the first phase. 29. This compilation and synthesis is part of a broader communication and review process, the basis of which is the national communications themselves. These are the authoritative sources of information on actions by Parties to implement their commitments. Another important element of this process is the in-depth review of each communication. Preparation for these reviews has been initiated and, subject to a decision by COP 1, the S A/AC.237/81 reviews will continue throughout 1995, leading to reports on individual communications and a revised compilation and synthesis for COP 2. The work undertaken in preparing the present document has resulted in the development of a number of databases and in the generation of substantial amounts of background documentation that will facilitate the in-depth reviews and could form the basis of additional inputs to the COP and the subsidiary bodies. C. Approach to the document 30. This document synthesizes the information contained in the 15 communications; it is neither a summary nor a country-by-country analysis. It is designed to provide an overview of the implementation of the Convention across reporting Parties, noting trends and patterns, areas of convergence or divergence, data gaps and other appropriate conclusions, including the overall effects of policies and measures. As a technical analysis, it can provide the basis for policy conclusions by the Committee and the COP. Parties are mentioned by name in the tables but not in the narrative text. This was felt to be in the spirit of a "facilitative and nonconfrontational" review process. At times, however, the lack of names in the text makes reading cumbersome. The Committee may wish to give guidance on this point for the future. 31. The structure of this document generally follows the indicative outline approved by the Committee at its tenth session (see A/AC.237/76, annex I, decision 10/1) although some adjustments have been necessary to take account of the content of the communications. There are five sections dealing with inventories, policies and measures, projections, finance and technology transfer and other issues. Each section synthesizes the relevant information and identifies some general conclusions. The final section offers some observations on possible follow-up work on the guidelines as a result of the experience gained to date. 32. In view of the different starting points and variety of approaches used by the Parties, the secretariat has attempted to make the information as comparable as possible. In order to do this, it has been necessary to make some judgements on how information from Parties should be presented. In such cases, what has been done is explained in the text or in footnotes. The secretariat has also used a number of different presentational tools. The compilation and synthesis should be seen as a "work in progress" which will be improved with experience and which would benefit from guidance from the Committee. 33. The interim secretariat takes full responsibility for the content of this document. It would, however, like to acknowledge with gratitude the outstanding effort and dedication of the experts who assisted in its preparation. It would also like to thank the Governments and organizations that agreed to lend experts to participate in this exercise. A/AC.237/81 34. III. CONTEXT The national communications total over 1,800 pages, not including supporting documentation. They generally included an introductory section which stressed the role that unique national circumstances play in determining the characteristics of emission profiles and the appropriateness of different response strategies. The communications focused on inventories (taking on average 15 per cent of the total length, plus annexes), policies and measures (about 35 per cent), projections (about 10 per cent) and discussions of finance, technology transfer and international cooperation (about 5 per cent). Short chapters were often included on the impacts of climate change, vulnerability and adaptation, research and systematic observation and education, training and public awareness. 35. Parties were requested to address the anthropogenic emissions and removals of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. The overall coverage of the different gases ranged from a focus on CO2 to a full treatment of all gases. CO2 was addressed by all Parties in discussions of inventories, policies and measures and projections. Fourteen Parties provided full consideration of CH, and 10 Parties provided full consideration of N2O. Although covered well in the inventories chapter, the ozone precursors were not systematically addressed in the other chapters. Scattered information was provided for some of the other gases (HFCs, PFCs, SF). In general, the inventories chapters were the most comprehensive in their coverage of gases. 36. Removals by sinks was discussed only with regard to CO2. All countries but one reported removals by sinks in their inventory and 10 countries included removals in their projections. All countries reported in varying detail on planned and ongoing policies and measures to address removals by sinks. 37. Consistent with their commitments under Article 4.1(b), 11 Parties specifically indicated that national climate change programmes and/or strategies had been developed. Others indicated that policies specific to climate change were in place. In addition, eight Parties described national committees to coordinate implementation of national commitments. 38. National targets, some of which corresponded to the aim specified in Article 4.2(a) and (b), were reported to have a central role in the development and evolution of national climate change policy. Thirteen Parties specifically mentioned self-imposed quantitative national targets in their communications, some of them had multiple targets. These targets differed considerably among Parties. For example, the gases included varied, the base and commitment years differed and they were expressed in gross, net, or per capita terms. Moreover, many countries specified qualifications or conditions (for example, regarding factors such as neutrality to international trade competitiveness, other Parties taking similar action, developments in international energy markets and progress in negotiations). Of the A/AC.237/81 Parties mentioning national targets, five could be characterized as having "stabilization" targets (one on a per capita basis), four as having "reduction targets" and four as having some combination of stabilization and reduction. 39. Six Parties mentioned specifically that, based on policies and measures already undertaken or likely to be adopted, they expected to attain their national targets. Four Parties acknowledged that additional measures would have to be taken if their national targets were to be reached. The other communications were not explicit on this point. Most countries described processes in which inter-ministerial committees would assess results achieved with a view to adjusting and further developing policies. IV. INVENTORIES OF ANTHROPOGENIC EMISSIONS AND 40. Pursuant to Articles 4.1(a) and 12.1(a), all reporting Parties communicated a 1990 national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. As requested by the guidelines, all Parties, using consistent formats, presented emission estimates on a gas-by-gas basis and addressed the three main greenhouse gases, CO2, CH, and N2O. All Parties also addressed the ozone precursors (CO, NO, and NMVOCs) although one Party did not estimate CO and NMVOCs. Nine Parties provided estimates for PFCs, three for HFCs and three for SF6. All but one Party provided land use change and forestry CO2 estimates which encompass removals. 41. The guidelines requested Parties to use the IPCC Draft Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories ("the IPCC Guidelines") in estimating, reporting and verifying inventory data. All Parties provided a report of their inventory data using the summary table recommended by the IPCC. 42. A. Presentation of results Tables A.1-A.8 summarizing inventory data for CO2, CH4, N2O, international bunkers, other greenhouse gases and ozone precursors appear in the annex to this document. Each table is accompanied by explanatory footnotes and by a brief analytical overview. As a result of the different ways of reporting used by Parties, it has been necessary to present CO2 emission and removal data from land use change and forestry separately. This permits the data to be presented in a consistent and coherent manner. Percentage distributions of CO2, CH, and N2O emissions by source/sink categories are also provided in the form of pie charts. |