National database of emission factors released
China just took a big step forward in ongoing efforts to build a robust emissions accounting system.
On Friday, after years of work by the environment ministry (MEE) and the stats bureau (NBS), China's first national database of emission factors (EFs) went live.
ICYDK: EFs are estimates of the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions created per unit of activity or input – like kilograms of materials used, or kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed.
- That makes it possible for enterprises to easily and accurately estimate their GHG emissions utilizing data they already have, like how much they produced and how much power they used.
This 1.0 version of the database provides EFs for a long list of sectors, including:
- Agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries
- Mining
- Manufacturing
- Electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply
- Transportation, warehousing, and postal services
According to an explainer from the MEE, the database includes some EFs based on unique domestic conditions and data, but draws heavily on internationally accepted default values from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
- That allowed regulators to get the database up and running quickly.
- It will be updated annually to include more locally calculated EFs, improving the accuracy of emissions accounting over time.
Get smart: This crucial piece of the puzzle puts regulators back on schedule in their efforts to get China's carbon emissions statistics and accounting system up and running.