Emission Inventory Support for Environment Agency of Iceland

Aether is supporting the Environment Agency of Iceland in the compilation of their greenhouse gas and air quality emissions inventories, as well as emissions projections and policies and measures (PaMs). The framework contract initially ran from 2015 to 2018, and has since been extended.  We are helping to ensure that Iceland’s inventory is robust and of high quality (transparent, complete, comparable, consistent and accurate). Aether is implementing new systems for inventory quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) activities, as well as providing sector reviews of both methods and data. We are working with the Environment Agency to develop a national online portal for sharing information on its climate related measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) activities.

The challenge

Iceland is required to report air pollutant and GHG emissions data, as well as meeting reporting obligations related to its mitigation and adaptation plans and activities. The Environment Agency identified a need for supplementary expertise to support their team.

2019 brought a significant new challenge for the Environment Agency to deliver information on projections and actions related to both greenhouse gases and air pollutants, working with the Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources. Iceland has elected to report information on their climate policies and measures (PaMs) under the EU Monitoring Mechanism Regulation for the first time in 2019.

The Environment Agency engaged Aether to assist with the design and implementation of an online portal to help integrate information to support this –  for common stakeholders, documents and data sets.

The solution

Aether specialises in the planning, preparation, management and review of emissions inventories. In addition, Aether has been developing online portals for sharing information on climate MRV.  These portals have been inplemented for many countries around the world in response to the Enhanced Transparency Framework under Article 13 of the Paris Agreement.

Our team has a wealth of experience, including experts who have worked for more than 20 years in this field. As such, we were able to provide the Environment Agency with a highly qualified team to support tasks in preparation of their reporting obligations.

The framework contract approach we have developed with Iceland allows flexibility of support to the Environment Agency, both remotely and through visits to Reykjavik. One of our key aims is to ensure that we transfer skills and knowledge to the people that we work with.

The result

Aether has helped develop and improve the Icelandic emissions inventory. Key to this has been the gradual review and update to inventory sectors including agriculture and waste. Emission inventory outputs such as uncertainty assessment and key category analysis have been improved, and Aether’s experts have been working closely with experts in the Environment Agency to develop in-house capacity.

In 2019, there has been be greater focus on helping Iceland meet reporting obligations for 2019. Aether has implemented an MRV portal for climate change emission data and policies. We have worked with numerous stakeholders to build data sets on climate and air pollutant actions and projections. These data sets are critical in allowing Iceland to assess its progress towards climate and air pollutant reduction targets.

Aether also supported Iceland with the estimation of GHG emissions savings from their climate PaMs, and in the compilation and submission of climate PaMs information under the MMR. This included support in the production of a technical report on Iceland’s GHG projections and policies.

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