Key Takeaways from May 2021 CCXG Workshop

1. Climate Change Expert Group www.oecd.org/env/cc/ccxg.htm
Key takeaways from the CCXG Workshop
Opportunities for developing Common Reporting
Tables (CRTs) for national GHG inventories
25-26 May 2021

2. 2 Climate Change Expert Group
Sharing experience: Challenges and opportunities
in using CRF tables and the CRF Reporter
• The transition to Common Reporting Tables (CRTs) for GHG inventories will represent a
significant step up in terms of reporting requirements for many developing countries.
These countries will need adequate support, including capacity building and IT support,
throughout the process, including support to address the challenge of data collection.
• Having systems for data organisation and planning of the different reporting steps is key
to successful GHG inventory reporting. There are numerous software and tools available
to countries to facilitate the process, including MS Excel and the IPCC Software.
• Opportunities for experience-sharing and mutual learning could be maximised in the
months ahead. Both developed and developing countries can learn from each other’s
experiences to continue improving the process of GHG inventory reporting over time.

3. 3 Climate Change Expert Group
Sectoral and background data tables for Energy, Agriculture
and LULUCF: Opportunities for improvement
• The current CRF set of sectoral and background data tables can serve as a basis for the development
of a new set of CRTs. However, some of these tables could potentially be improved to reflect new
guidelines for the preparation of national GHG inventories:
• e.g. for the Energy tables, identifying options to report negative emissions and to harmonise the
granularity of reporting among sectors.
• e.g. for the Agriculture and LULUCF tables, addressing the overlap in reporting between
Agriculture and LULUCF categories, and identifying options for clarifying the use of the land use
matrix.
• The filling in of the sectoral tables (including via a CRT Reporter) can be simplified, e.g. by providing
more notation keys, increased use of footnotes and simplifying drop-down options in the selection of
some categories.
• Reporting information for background data tables may be particularly challenging for developing
countries and will need sustained capacity building to improve data collection and organisation.

4. 4 Climate Change Expert Group
Options for implementing flexibility within CRTs
• Some divergence remains in terms of preferred options available to implement flexibility
in CRTs. The option to use notation keys when inputting data into a CRT Reporter offers
advantages in terms of transparency and machine readability, while also facilitating the
technical expert review.
• More than one reporting option can be combined to promote TACCC principles. For
example, notation keys could be used in conjunction with footnotes and documentation
boxes to provide more information on the use of flexibility.
• It can be useful to assess reporting options for the implementation of flexibility on a case-
by-case basis. Each flexibility provision in the MPGs may require the adoption of variations
of an agreed reporting option.