How To Reduce GHG Uncertainty

How To Reduce GHG Uncertainty

IPCC recommends that GHG accounting uncertainties should be reduced as far as is practicable during the process of compiling an inventory, and it is particularly important to ensure that the model and the data collected are fair representations of the real world.

When focusing efforts to reduce uncertainty, priority should be given to those inputs to the inventory that have the most impact on the overall uncertainty of the inventory, as opposed to inputs that are of minor or negligible importance.

Depending on the cause of uncertainty present, uncertainties could be reduced in seven broad ways:

• Improving conceptualisation: Improving the inclusiveness of the structural assumptions chosen can reduce uncertainties. An example is better treatment of seasonality effects that leads to more accurate annual estimates of emissions or removals for the AFOLU Sector.
• Improving models: Improving the model structure and parameterisation can lead to better understanding and characterisation of the systematic and random errors, as well as reductions in these causes of uncertainty.
• Improving representativeness: This may involve stratification or other sampling strategies. This is particularly important for categories in the agriculture, forestry and land use parts of an inventory, but also applies elsewhere, e.g., wherever different technologies are operating within a category. For example, continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) can be used to reduce uncertainty for some sources and gases as long as the representativeness is guaranteed. CEMS produces representative data at the facilities where it is used, but in order to be representative of an entire source category, CEMS data must be available for a sample or an entire set of individual facilities that comprise the category. When using CEMS both GHG emissions concentration and flow will vary, requiring simultaneous observations of both attributes.
• Using more precise measurement methods: Measurement error can be reduced by using more precise measurement methods, avoiding simplifying assumptions, and ensuring that measurement technologies are appropriately used and calibrated.
• Collecting more data that are measured: Uncertainty associated with random sampling error can be reduced by increasing the sample size. Both bias and random error can be reduced by filling in data gaps. This applies both to measurements and surveys.
• Eliminating known risk of bias: This is achieved by ensuring instrumentation is properly positioned and calibrated, models or other estimation procedures are appropriate and representative as indicated by the decision trees and other advice on methodological choice in sectoral volumes, and by applying expert judgements in a systematic way.
• Improving state of knowledge: Generally, improving the understanding of the categories and the processes leading to emissions and removals can help to discover, and correct for, problems of incompleteness. It is good practice to continuously improve emissions and removal estimates based on new knowledge
• Moving to higher tier method: For example, Tier 1 emission factors that are considered global defaults may be biased when they are applied in a specific country where emission rates deviate by significant amounts from global defaults. Moving to a higher tier method in these cases will likely increase accuracy. Applying a higher tier method may also improve the precision of estimates.