Greenhouse gas emissions inventory capacity: an assessment of Asian developing countries
In the context of the transparency framework under the Paris Agreement (PA), this paper presents the status and changes in the capacity of 37 developing countries in Asia to develop national GHG inventories by using a matrix of capacity-indicators. It also analysed variations in capacity building efforts and support. Eleven Asian developing countries did not improve their capacity and remained as low capacity across GHG inventories. Nineteen had a relatively high capacity, including those with a relatively high capacity from the first GHG inventory and those whose capacity sufficiently improved. Seven had the highest capacity ready for the communication of GHG inventories on a regular basis. International support was provided more to those countries which already had advanced capacities from the earlier stage of inventory development. Less support was given to the countries that require the most international capacity building efforts. Low capacity countries will need to receive increased international support to enable their full participation in the PA’s transparency framework. The Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) and other international capacity building activities should direct more of their resources to particularly strengthening basic technical capacity in a country (e.g., statistics and the scientific expertise) to support the GHG inventory development process, while addressing the co-benefits of the transparency-related efforts by developing countries.