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AIR POLLUTION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC IN 2009 Czech Hydrometeorological Institute - Air Quality Protection Division |
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I.2 Greenhouse gases emissions
At present the climate change is regarded as one of the most serious global problems. The climate system is influenced by a number of anthropologic activities, and the prevailing role is ascribed to the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), which cause the increase of the greenhouse effect. With regard to the global impact the climate change is a worldwide issue and its solution demands the active and constructive approach from all countries. The most serious impacts of the proceeding climate change include the increasing frequency of extreme climatic events (floods, draught, wind storms), sea level rise, decreasing drinking water availability, desertification, biodiversity reduction etc. People are aware of the seriousness of the problem and therefore already in 1992 the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro set the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC), which entered into force in 1994. The basic objective of the Framework Convention is to create prerequisites for stabilization of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The Framework Convention covers a number of general responsibilities and regulations for the parties, nevertheless there are no specific reduction commitments. The Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on climate change was adopted at the Third Conference of the Parties to the UN FCCC in Kyoto in 1997. Its adoption was appreciated as a major progress, because the Protocol set the quantified emission reduction commitments for the parties and the ways of their achievement. The industrialized countries were legally bound to reduce during the first commitment period (2008–2012), individually or jointly, their emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 5.2 % from the level in 1990. This reduction refers to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), fluorinated hydrocarbons – partly (HFC) and completely (PFC) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), expressed as aggregated CO2 emissions (i.e. in CO2 equivalents). The Kyoto Protocol covers not only the processes leading to emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but also the reversed processes resulting in the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and its “storage” in the biomass, by monitoring the land-use changes (afforestation, forest management practice or deforestation). The Kyoto Protocol is valid for the limited period 2008–2012, therefore there have been negotiations for several years aimed at the follow up commitments concerning emission reduction after 2013. The year 2009 was a key year in this process as it was expected that on the 15th UN FCCC Conference of the Parties and the 5th Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen the legally binding agreement to follow up the Kyoto Protocol would be adopted. Unfortunately, the conference did not achieve the agreement and the negotiations resulted in the text appealing for voluntary commitments. The Copenhagen conference was the last occasion how to maintain the continuity of the process. It is already clear that even if the 16th UN FCCC Conference of the Parties and the 6th Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol in Cancun (Mexico) succeeds with the agreement to follow up the Kyoto Protocol, its ratification and implementation will not be feasible before the Kyoto Protocol expires. However, there will be no change as concerns monitoring and reporting GHG emissions, because the obligations set by the UN FCCC and the Kyoto Protocol are required by the legislation of the European Union. It will be necessary to adopt the changes in the system of reduction commitments calculation and probably also some minor changes (extension) of the ways of GHG monitoring and reporting based on the latest scientific knowledge1. It will be necessary to adapt the national inventory systems to the envisaged changes during the next years. Climate protection has become the priority issue in the environmental policy both at the highest national and at international levels, for instance within the European Union. At present the EU deals both with emission mitigation and with the adaptation measures to combat climate change. These issues are given high priority. The problem of GHG emission reduction in the EU is solved in a lot of documents and strategies. Among them, the EU Climate change and energy package adopted recently has been mentioned most frequently. This package contains inter alia the directive updating and extending the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) as well as the recently adopted Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council No. 406/2009/EC on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community’s greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020. At the national level, the final version of the document “Climate Protection Policy“ is under preparation, the national energetic policy has been lively discussed for several years, and the NGO prepare their own draft and legislation on the reduction of GHG emissions. All these documents will influence the national system of greenhouse gas inventories which will have to be modified and updated pursuant the new requirements. The Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol set the use of the unified methods2 for the determination of emissions and removals of gases influencing the climate system of the Earth (greenhouse gases). This determination, called the greenhouse gases inventory, is the basis for the control of international commitments set by the Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol; in case of the Czech Republic it is the commitment to reduce total GHG emissions by 8 % in 2008–2012 as against the base year 1990 (for HFC, PFC and SF6 1995 was set as the base year). The implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in the European Union is supported legislatively by the Decision of the European Parliament and the Council No. 280/2004/EC and by the respective implementation regulation3. This Decision is currently under revision in order to include the requirements to supply data requested by the newly adopted legislation at the EU level. The national inventory system, requested by the Kyoto Protocol and by the above mentioned Decision, should ensure the institutional, legislative and procedure arrangements necessary for the fulfilment of all vital activities connected with the inventory process of GHG. In the Czech Republic the body responsible for the proper operation of the national inventory system is the Ministry of the Environment. The ministry authorized the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI) to coordinate the preparations of the inventory process and be in charge of the delivery of the requested data and text outputs. One of the procedures includes the implementation of QA/QC control mechanisms, which can result in recalculation of the values if necessary. Therefore the presented data on the values of GHG emissions and removals for individual years may be changed. Results of National Greenhouse Gas Inventory CO2 – carbon dioxide The amount of CO2 emissions produced by individual activities is illustrated in Fig. I.2.1. Between 1990 and 2008 they decreased by 26.5 % which was contributed mainly by the decrease in the sectors Energy – Manufacturing industries and Other sectors (Residential, Commercial/Institutional). The decrease of emissions during combustion in the sector Manufacturing industries and Construction in the early 90's was given by the depression and re-structuring of several industrial branches, at the end of the monitored period the emissions decreased due to saving policy and implementation of new technologies. The emission reduction in Other sectors is the result of more effective energy use (growing energy efficiency, mainly thermo-insulation of buildings and economical use of energies). On the contrary the situation in the sector Transport is quite different; the emissions increased 2.5 times as compared with the year 1990, which is given by the development of transport, mainly of individual automobile transport and road truck transport. The CO2 emissions development was positively influenced by the decreasing share of solid fuels and by the growth of the share of natural gas, and beginning from 2003 also by the use of biomass. During the recent years, however, the gas prices have markedly increased, which in some localities resulted in the switch to other type of fuels. CH4 – methane Methane is the second significant greenhouse gas with regard to the production in the Czech Republic. Its share in total aggregated greenhouse gases emissions has decreased from 9.7 % in 1990 to 8.6 % in 2008. The amount of methane emissions produced by different activities is presented in Fig. I.2.2. In 1990–2008 the methane emissions decreased by 37.5 %, which was caused mainly by the reduction of coal mining and of the livestock numbers, to a lesser extent also by lower consumption of solid fuels in households. The increase of emissions in the Waste sector is reduced by the use of landfill gas or biogas for energy production. N2O – nitrous oxide The share of methane in total aggregated GHG emissions has decreased from 6.4 % in 1990 to 5.7 % in 2008. The amount of emissions of this greenhouse gas produced by individual activities is shown in Fig. I.2.3. In 1990–2008 nitrous oxide emissions decreased by 36.7 %, mainly as a result of the reduction of artificial fertilizers in agriculture, the decrease of the livestock numbers and recently also due to the implementation of technologies aimed at N2O emissions abatement in the production of nitrous acid. Fluorinated gases More detailed data on GHG emissions and removals in the Czech Republic are presented at the CHMI website: www.chmi.cz/ or in the National Inventory Report of the Czech Republic4. Similar information from all EU states is regularly collected and published by EEA as reports5 and in interactive internet database6. Emission trading system CHMI takes an active part in both systems. The CHMI experts have participated from the very beginning in the preparation and implementation of the EU ETS in the Czech Republic, mainly as concerns the methods (monitoring, reporting and verifying greenhouse gases emissions). The interaction of the national GHG emissions inventory and EU ETS has a mutual character: national inventory brings several data for emission calculation from selected processes and, on the other hand, the selected data obtained within the EU ETS are used when processing the national inventory. As concerns the use of flexible mechanisms, the implementation and operation of the National inventory system is the fundamental and inevitable condition for the possibility to use the International emission trading. As for the Joint Implementation projects, this results in a markedly lower administrative burden, and consequently, lower costs for their implementation. In 2009 the amount of emissions produced by the Czech enterprises involved in EU ETS was by 8.2 % lower than in the previous year. The 2009 emissions amounted to 73.8 Mt CO2, which is a markedly lower value than expected by the National Allocation Plan for the Czech Republic with 85.8 million allowances for the year 2008. The results are presented in Table I.2.3. The repeated very marked decline of emissions, mainly from the production of iron, steel and building material, is caused clearly by the economic crisis. However, it can be expected that the decrease of total GHG emissions in the Czech Republic in 2009 will not be as large as in EU ETS because this scheme covers only the selected part of the national economy and emission. Other sectors, e.g. Transport or heating in residential and institutional buildings have different (time) response to the current crisis, as well as different driving factors. Tab. I.2.1 Total emissions of greenhouse gases, 1990–2008 [Mt CO2 eq.] Tab. I.2.2 Emissions of greenhouse gases structured by sectors, 1990 to 2008 [Mt CO2 eq.] Tab. I.2.3 Emissions of CO2 verified and reported in the ETS scheme, 2005–2009 [Mt CO2 eq.]
Fig. I.2.2 Emissions of methane structured by sectors, 1990–2008 Fig. I.2.3 Emissions of nitrous oxides structured by sectors, 1990–2008 Fig. I.2.4 Emissions of F-gases, 1995–2008 1 IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: The Physical
Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning,
M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., Signor, M. and Miller, H.L. (eds.)].
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 996
pp. 2 Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Vol. 1–3, IPCC 1997 3 by 2005/166/EC Commission Decision laying down rules implementing Decision No. 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol 5 Annual European Community
greenhouse gas inventory 1990–2007 and inventory report 2009 6 Greenhouse gases emissions and
Global Warming Potential (GWP)
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