28 February 2014: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released two methodology reports, prepared by the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), which is responsible for assessing and developing scientifically-sound inventory methods and practices.

The reports—the ‘2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories (2006 IPCC Guidelines): Wetlands’ (Wetlands Supplement) and the ‘2013 Revised Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol’ (KP Supplement)—were accepted and released in pre-publication versions at the IPCC’s 37th Session, held in Batumi, Georgia, in October 2013.

The reports are the latest in a series of TFI documents that assist countries, which are parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol, to estimate and report anthropogenic GHG emissions and removals.

The Wetlands Supplement goes beyond the 2006 IPCC Guidelines by filling gaps and providing updated information reflecting scientific advances, and covers: inland organic soils and wetlands on mineral soils; coastal wetlands, including mangroves; tidal marshes and seagrass meadows; and constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. The 2006 IPCC Guidelines’ coverage of wetlands was limited to peatlands drained and managed for peat extraction, conversion to flooded lands, and guidance for drained organic soils.

The KP Supplement provides additional methods and good practice guidance for estimating anthropogenic GHG emissions by sources and removals by sinks from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. It revises and updates relevant information related to the Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry LULUCF (GPG-LULUCF), which stipulated supplementary methods and guidance related to LULUCF activities for the Protocol’s first commitment period.

The TFI was established by the IPCC in October 1998 to oversee the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IPCC-NGGIP). Its Technical Support Unit (TSU), is based at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), and hosted by the Government of Japan. [IPCC Press Release] [Publication: 2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands] [Publication: 2013 Revised Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol]