Electricity + Control September 2017

PLANT MAINTENANCE, TEST + MEASUREMENT

Voluntary versus mandatory reporting Even if a company has been reporting its green- house gas emissions for years, e.g. as a CDP response or for other (strategic) reasons, this does not mean that these companies are set up for compliance to The Regulations. The extent to which carbon inventories need to be realigned to The Regulations depends on the methodology used for calculating and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. National emissions inventories are often done based on IPCC guidelines ‘to up- date and maintain a National Greenhouse Gas In- ventory’. At company level, the GHG Protocol is typically the standard used for the establishment of a greenhouse gas inventory. The main differ- ences between these protocols are summed up below and are areas that corporates will need to reassess in order to align their voluntary carbon management system to the new Regulations as introduced on 3 April this year. • Greenhouse gas emissions sources: The Reg- ulations classify emissions sources by the activity generating the emissions; The GHG Protocol uses a sectoral classification for the identification of emissions sources.Why is this important? Because the category of a green- house gas emissions source influences: - The methodology selected for the inventory - The selection and therefore the level of accuracy of the emission-factor • Global Warming Potential (GWP) values: The Regulations stipulate that data providers are required to use GWP values provided by the IPCC 3 rd Assessment Report [6] (https://www. ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/). The GHG Protocol prescribes that the GWPs from the IPCC 2 nd ,

3 rd or 4 th Assessment Report can be used, as long as they are referenced correctly and used consistently. (The global warming potential of a greenhouse gas refers to the quantity of the reference gas, i.e. carbon dioxide, required to having the same impact on global warming as a unit of the gas in question. For example, if methane has a global warming potential of 25, it means that 1 kg of methane has the same impact on global warming as 25 kg of carbon dioxide) • The use of units: Different standards may use different units: emission-calculation-methods as per The Regulations follow IPCC Guidelines and emissions are reported in Gigagrams (Gg). CDP-submissions are reporting emissions us- ing tonnes. The GHG Protocol does not specify which units to use for reporting of emissions • Reporting period: The Regulations require that emissions should be reported for a calendar year (1 January – 31 December), while the Corporate Standard does not specify the be- ginning and end of the reporting period as long as it covers one year Conclusion Whether your company has been reporting green- house gas emissions in the past on a voluntary basis, or you have not been reporting at all, the introduction of the National Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting Regulations – as of 3 April 2017 – requires for companies to reassess their carbon-management systems in place. References [1] http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/05/glob- al-look-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-report- ing-programs [2] www.ghgprotocol.org [3] https://www.iso.org/news/2006/03/Ref994. html [4] http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485. php [5] South Africa’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) http://www4.unfccc.int/ ndcregistry/PublishedDocuments/South%20 Africa%20First/South%20Africa.pdf [6] Technical Guidelines for Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gases by In- dustry

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Silvana Claassen CES South Africa

+27 (0) 78 097 0852 silvana@carbon-energy-solutions.co.za www.carbon-energy-solutions.co.za

32 Electricity + Control

SEPTEMBER 2017