23 July 2012
UNFCCC Publishes Portugal’s GHG Inventory Review Report
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The UNFCCC Secretariat released the report of the centralized review of the 2011 annual submission of Portugal (FCCC/ARR/2011/PRT).

The Expert Review Team (ERT) that conducted the centralized review concludes that Portugal's submission was in compliance with the UNFCCC reporting guidelines and the IPCC Guidelines and provides suggestions for enhancing transparency and completeness of information.

16 July 2012: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released the report of the centralized review of the 2011 annual submission of Portugal (FCCC/ARR/2011/PRT). The report finds that total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased by 25.5% between 1990 and 2009.

The Expert Review Team (ERT) that conducted the centralized review concludes that Portugal’s inventory submission, the common reporting format (CRF) tables and the national inventory report (NIR) were prepared in compliance with the UNFCCC reporting guidelines. However, the ERT finds that the CRF tables are not complete in terms of geographical coverage for land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) estimates. The ERT underscores that Portugal’s inventory is generally in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines, except for some specific emissions.

The ERT identifies the following cross-cutting issues for improvement: enhancing accuracy of estimates by using country-specific parameters for key categories; including more information on planned improvements; and addressing the recommendations from previous review reports that had not yet been addressed. The ERT further formulates recommendations for improving transparency and completeness of the information presented, such as: reviewing used methods for estimating fugitive emissions from natural gas distribution; developing country-specific emission factors for gasoline, diesel and liquid petroleum gas used in road transportation; and increasing consistency of information in the agriculture and LULUCF sectors. [Report of the Individual Review of the Annual Submission of Portugal Submitted in 2011]