GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORY FOR 2008 Experience and results

Data results and statistics The climate neutral focal points received the standard- ized methodology, tools and templates in April 2009, together with training sessions on their use. Over the following four months, the forty-nine UN system re- porting entities collected data and submitted GHG inventories to the EMG secretariat using the standard- ized reporting formats. The result is a comprehensive overview of source categories and emissions.

The proposed methodology and tools were used by all participating organizations except four organizations, which already had a GHG data collection system in place. Those submitted their results in the alternative format. Since the methodologies used by those organi- zations were based on the GHG Protocol, like the other UN GHG Calculator, their approaches are similar and therefore compatible.

The aggregated GHG emissions of the UN system or- ganizations for their facility operations and travel in 2008 are estimated at approximately 770 000 tonnes of CO2

lion tonnes of CO2

equivalent. An estimated additional one mil- equivalent are emitted from opera-

tions related to peacekeeping missions, including uni- formed personnel. The average annual greenhouse emissions across the UN system are approximately 8.3 tonnes of CO2

equivalent per staff member3 .

Total GHG emissions vary across organizations due to their different sizes and types of operations. The largest source of GHG emissions for the UN system organiza- tions is air travel, accounting on average for almost 50 per cent of total emissions, one third are from electric- ity and heating of facilities, twelve per cent are from of- ficial vehicles and five per cent from refrigeration and air conditioning. There is significant variation between organizations, with air travel resulting in over 90 per cent in some cases down to a few per cent in others.

The use of official vehicles is more common in country offices. There is also variation in GHG emissions from facilities, with average emission factors from electricity production ranging, for example from 0.0013 kg CO2 kWh in Mozambique to 0.9434 kg CO2

/ / kWh in India.

3. The term “staff member” is used in this inventory process to include all personnel contributing to an organization’s footprint and therefore also includes short-term staff, consultants and in- terns. Numbers may therefore differ from those provided in other official documents, depending on whether these refer to posts established in budgets or other definitions.

Furthermore, the local climatic conditions, the extent of heating and air-conditioning, and the energy effi- ciency of the buildings play an important role. These factors increase the share of total emissions from facili- ties and vehicles.

Carbon dioxide is the most significant GHG, account- ing for more than 90 per cent of total GHG emissions. This result reflects the fact that fossil fuel combustion is the principal source of GHG emissions. Another reason is that other GHGs, such as HFCs and PFCs have prob- ably been undervalued, because of limited data avail- ability. Furthermore, some energy providers have pro- vided data to organizations only in aggregated CO2

eq

format. In the latter cases, these emissions have been counted as CO2

emissions in the inventory.

Completeness and quality Organizations generally succeeded in reporting their GHG emissions required under the minimum agreed boundary. However, there are variations in quality and completeness.

The highest quality data were those which were system- atically collected and recorded, such as air travel and elec- tricity consumption. There were often difficulties obtain- ing data for fugitive emissions from air-conditioning and refrigeration, because maintenance of air-conditioning equipment is often outsourced and various types of equipment and refrigerants are used in one facility.

Air travel data Although air travel data were most of the time read- ily available through the ERP system or servicing travel agent, difficulties were experienced by some organi- zations in obtaining the data in the required data for- mat. The ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator takes into account the actual routing of a flight rather than just the distance between origin and destination in order to better estimate emissions resulting from the trip. Furthermore, data need to be expressed in three-letter IATA airport codes. It also differentiates emissions cre- ated by a business-class flight and one in economy. However, this requires data on the exact routing and travel class which was difficult for some organizations to obtain retroactively.

For certain categories of official travel – such as entitle- ment travel (home leave), self-ticketed travel or charter flights – information on the routing and class of trav- el was not readily available. In these cases, estimates were made either by estimating the routing by select-

17