Approximated EU GHG inventory : proxy GHG estimates for 2013

This report provides estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union (EU) and its Member States for the year 2013, covering the full GHG inventory (all sectors, except land use, land‑use change and forestry (LULUCF), and all gases). These estimates are also referred to as approximated ('proxy') estimates or inventories in this report as they cover the year for which no official GHG inventories have been prepared yet. The proxy estimates are based on incomplete activity and/or emissions data at country level and they should be considered as preliminary until the official inventory submissions are reported to UNFCCC in 2015. The proxy inventories in this report are based on GHG emission estimates reported by Member States to the European Commission under existing EU legislation (1) and on calculations made by the European Environment Agency (EEA) using activity and/or emissions data at country level. The official submission of 2013 inventories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place in 2015. The proxy estimates greatly improve the timeliness of information on GHG emissions and are used for analysis of emission trends and progress to EU climate targets. 2013 presents a special case in GHG emissions reporting as it entails a change in the methodology and Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) used to estimate non‑CO2 GHG gases. Under the UNFCCC rules, the official GHG inventories for 2013, to be submitted in 2015, will have to follow the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for national inventories and use the GWPs from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). These changes will reduce the comparability of the 2013 estimates with the previous inventories, in particular in areas where the revised IPCC methodologies will trigger changes in the methods used. As it is impossible to accurately quantify the different impacts arising from these changes on the 2013 inventory estimates, it is expected that the approximated estimates will show larger deviations relative to the final inventories submitted in 2015 than the approximated results for the past years. The executive summary and Chapter 2 are based on proxy estimates reported by Member States as well as EEA estimates when Member States did not report proxy estimates by 31 of July. Chapter 3 is based on EEA proxy estimates for all Member States. The estimates in both chapters are based on GWPs from the IPCC Second Assessment Report (SAR) However, for reasons of consistency the paragraphs referring to the split between EU ETS and non‑ETS emissions are based on GWPs from the IPCC AR4 and the scope-corrected ETS data for 2012.