Category: National governments, Capacity building, Emission inventories

GHG inventory support for Estonia

Aether is supporting the Estonian Environmental Research Centre (EKUK) and Estonian Environment Agency (EstEA) in the development of its national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory templates. We are helping to ensure that the compilation process is transparent and efficient.

The Challenge

Estonia is required to annually report GHG emissions data to the European Union and under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The team at EKUK and EstEA are responsible for compiling the emission estimates. While the GHG inventory methodologies are well established, the inventory team wanted an improved inventory system to increase the efficiency of inventory compilation.

 

The Solution

Aether has been supporting EKUK and EstEA in the streamlining of their inventory compilation calculations, implementing a spreadsheet-based solution to replace their current spreadsheets and replicate their established methodology. Aether’s GHG inventory templates were used and adapted to the teams’ requirements. This included automated data input and summaries, through Microsoft Power Queries, to improve the efficiency of the compilation processes. The Aether GHG templates put transparency at their core, and methodology and data sources were made clear throughout. Using the templates also ensured consistency across the compilation workbooks for all sectors.

A key aspect of this work was to provide hands-on training to the inventory team following delivery of the new compilation spreadsheets. Using our experience in capacity building we ran a two-day workshop, focussing on using the updated spreadsheets as well as more technical training on using Microsoft Power Queries. The training was well received, with feedback that the team had learnt more from our in-country visit than more bespoke IT/Excel training.

 

The Result

EKUK and EstEA use a new compilation tool for estimating GHG emissions and removals which:

  • Automatically imports some of the activity data in some sectors after specifying the file location
  • Sets out the calculations in a transparent, user-friendly way to enable the national team to enhance their capacity and continue to improve the estimates
  • Automatically creates summaries of emissions and activity data

 

To find out more about the different services that we offer to national inventory teams click here.

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