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On the road towards establishing a sustainable Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory, South Africa wanted to make sure that they had a high quality national GHG inventory system. With this purpose, Aether has worked together with the Department of Environmental Affairs of the Republic of South Africa, as well as Gondwana and the North-West University. The team has provided hands-on support in the development of South Africa’s institutional arrangements, work plans, data systems, QA/QC systems and improvement plans.
The challenge
South Africa’s national circumstances determine the level required for their inventory compilation. Despite being a non-Annex I country to the UNFCCC, the country is committed to developing a high-quality inventory system.
The solution
During 2015 to 2017, Aether provided hands-on support in the development of South Africa’s institutional arrangements, work plans, data systems, QA/QC systems and improvement plans. A key solution in meeting South Africa’s needs is the development of a national system portal. Launched in 2016, the online portal facilitates communication between both internal and external stakeholders, and ensures retention of institutional memory with thorough documentation. The inventory has further been improved through the adoption of best practice compilation templates, including QA/QC checklists and Aether’s QA/QC tool ‘QA Analyst’. To facilitate engagement and communication with the inventory team, as well as other stakeholders, the project incorporates multiple in-country visits and stakeholder engagement activities, as well as virtual training courses.
The result
The work will ensure that South Africa can develop and maintain a high-quality data collection, analysis and reporting system for GHG emission trends. Through this process, the system will meet the needs of its climate action policy-makers to track and develop effective policies.
Outputs will inform and engage stakeholders and the public. The system will also support transparent, high-quality reporting to the UNFCCC in support of Biennial Update Reports (BURs) and National Communications (NCs).
Chris Dore
Director
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