Common Sense – Common Accounting

To enable understanding of mitigation efforts by developed country Parties, transparency is critical. The LCA process has already launched a process to clarify Annex I targets. This is a significant step. Developed country Parties should clarify the assumptions that underlie their targets, including:

  • Emission reduction target (in terms of MTCO2e)
  • Expected emissions reductions
  • Base year
  • Emissions level in the base year (in terms of MTCO2e)
  • Methodology used to calculate the national inventory in the base year
  • Target year
  • Methodology that will be used to calculate the national inventory over the target period
  • Sectors covered by the target
  • Gases covered by the target
  • GWP values
  • Role of LULUCF, including methodology used to calculate emissions and removals from LULUCF
  • Use of surplus emissions units, to the extent used in any second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and also used to meet targets under the Convention track
  • Role of any domestic offsets, international offsets and other market­based mechanisms:
  • Methodology used to assess emissions reductions
  • The percentage of (in terms of both the goal and the reduction effort), as well as the absolute amount (in tons of CO2e), of emissions reductions generated that will be used in achieving their mitigation goals.
  • Mechanisms used to prevent double counting