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GLOSSARY
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A B C D E
F G H I J
K L M N O
P Q R S T
U V W X Y
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ABARE
- The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics is a major source of
activity data for the energy sector.
ABS
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics is a major source of data for the agricultural
sector.
Accounting Framework
- The NGGI can be compiled according to
UNFCCC or Kyoto
accounting provisions. The Government’s 108% target is based on Kyoto accounting
provisions and this is the default reporting framework set for this information
system.
The principal source of difference between the two accounting frameworks is the
treatment of emissions sources and sinks from the land use, land use change and
forestry sector. UNFCCC provisions are underpinned by a comprehensive approach to
emissions accounting and require the inclusion of all sources and sinks where there
is adequate data while Kyoto provisions require a more limited set of sources and
sinks from land use and forestry activities (afforestation, reforestation and deforestation).
Activity
- A process that generates greenhouse gas emissions or uptake. In some sectors it
refers to the level of energy consumption, production or manufacture for a given
process or category or animal numbers.
AGEIS
- The Australian Greenhouse Emissions Information System centralises the AGO's emissions
estimation, emissions data management and reporting systems. AGEIS is being used
to compile National and State and Territory inventories. The interactive webface
provides enhanced accessibility and transparency to Australia's greenhouse emissions
data.
AGO
- The Australian Greenhouse Office. Part of the Australian Department of the Environment
and Water Resources.
ANZSIC
Appendix Table
- Tables which present additional information on the calculations used to derive emissions
reported in the CRF tables. These provide information at a greater level of disaggregation.
Australia’s National Greenhouse Accounts
- The Australian Greenhouse Office publishes a suite of reports that, together, constitute
the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts. The Accounts include:
- The National Greenhouse Gas Inventory 2005, reported on a Kyoto accounting
basis and according to IPCC sectors;
- a summary of State and Territory Greenhouse Gas Inventories, reported as
per the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory;
- the National Inventory by Economic Sector 2005, comprising emission estimates
by economic sector rather than by IPCC sectors; and
- the National Inventory Report 2005, prepared under the reporting provisions
applicable to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Australian and New Zealand Industry Classification 2006 (ANZSIC)
- 2006 Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) is derived
from international classifications (ISIC, International Standard Industrial Classifications)
and provides a framework for organising data about businesses - by enabling grouping
of business units carrying out similar productive activities. The ANZSIC was developed
by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in collaboration with Statistics New
Zealand.
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Base Year
- The base year for the compilation of Australia's national inventory is 1990.
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Confidentiality
- Data that is considered to be commercially sensitive is reported as “C” in the CRF
tables. Confidential emissions are reported as an aggregated CO2 equivalent value.
Common Reporting Format (CRF) Table
- The common reporting format tables form part of the National Inventory Report and
are provided along with the sectoral
Appendix Tables. The CRF tables are a
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reporting template
for countries to report their greenhouse gas emissions by sector, gas, trends and
recalculated data in an electronic and hard copy format. The data reported in these
CRF tables is in most cases also reported in the AGO Appendix tables, the latter
retained in the National Inventory Report. For each inventory year the CRF tables
are compiled for the current inventory year and re-compiled for each year back to
1990. These tables are prepared in Microsoft Excel and converted to Portable Document
Format (PDF).
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Emission Type
- The release of a particular gas to the atmosphere as a result of a certain activity.
Emissions can be one of the following four types:
- Generated – the gross result of a process or activity;
- Recovered – the diversion of emissions for use in a secondary process, such as power
generation;
- Sinks - the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere;
- Net emissions – remaining gas released to the atmosphere after generation, recovery
and sinks are taken into account.
The most common data in the
AGEIS
are net estimates of emissions. The default setting for the system is to retrieve
net emissions. If you select ‘all’ you retrieve estimates for all four types of
emissions, although note that the system will take longer to complete this task.
Emission Factors
- The quantity of greenhouse gases emitted per unit of some specified activity.
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Fugitive Emissions
- Release of emissions that typically result from leaks, including those from pump
seals, pipe flanges and valve stems. Fugitive emissions also include methane emitted
from coal mine seams. During petroleum storage tank filling, venting loss of vapour
is a fugitive emission.
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Gas
- The most common greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, halocarbons,
perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexaflouride. Emissions from these gases are reported
under the Kyoto Protocol, and aggregated into carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e)
using factors called global warming potentials (GWPs). The default setting for the
system is to report emissions of the six main classes of gases aggregated into a
single CO2-e estimate for each sector. Emissions of other, indirect gases, which
cannot be aggregated because they do not have GWPs applied to them, are also reported
individually under the UNFCCC inventory. These gases include nitrogen oxides, carbon
monoxide, Non–Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOCs) and sulphur dioxide.
Global Warming Potential
- Represents the relative warming effect of a unit mass of a greenhouse gas compared
with the same mass of CO2 over a specific period. Multiplying the actual amount
of gas emitted by the GWP gives the CO2-equivalent emissions. By international
agreement, the GWPs used for this inventory are those identified by the IPCC in
the Second Assessment Report in 1996
(see the notes of the national inventory report).
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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- Established in 1988, the purpose of the IPCC is to assess information in the scientific
literature related to all significant components of the issue of climate change.
The Official advisory body to governments on the state of science of climate change.
Inventory Year
- The year in which emissions occur. The latest year for which we have data is 2005.
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Key Source Category
- A key source category has a significant influence on a country’s total inventory
of direct greenhouse gases in terms of absolute level of emissions, the trend in
emissions, or both. Tier 1 key source analysis identifies sources that contribute
to 95% of the total emissions or 95% of the trend of the inventory in absolute terms.
Kyoto Protocol
- The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty designed to limit global greenhouse
gas emissions. Many Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), including Australia, have signed the Protocol since negotiations
were concluded at the third session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC
(COP 3).
The Kyoto framework has unique accounting provisions for the estimation of a country’s
greenhouse gas emissions, providing for the inclusion of specific sources and sinks
from the land use, land use change and forestry sector.
More information on the Kyoto Protocol
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Methodology
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National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGGI)
- The NGGI consists of a range of outputs including National Inventory Report, Common
Reporting Format Tables, Appendix Tables and Emission Data.
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Scope 1 Emissions
- Direct greenhouse gas emissions
Scope 2 Emissions
- Indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of purchased electricity.
Purchased electricity is defined as electricity that is purchased or otherwise brought
into the organisational boundary of the entity. Emissions from electricity generation
consumed within the electricity, gas and water sector are included for completeness
although this electricity use includes own use of generators and does not necessarily
meet the definition of scope 2 emissions. The sum of scope 2 emissions is equal
to the direct (scope 1) emissions from electricity generation (IPCC Source Category
1.A.1.a). Scope 2 emissions are preliminary at this stage. The methodology of allocating
emissions will be further developed in subsequent AGEIS releases.
Sector
- The Inventory is divided into 6 IPCC defined sectors based on particular emissions
processes:
- Energy (IPCC sector 1),
- Industrial Processes (sector 2),
- Solvent and Other Product Use (sector 3),
- Agriculture (sector 4),
- Land Use Change and Forestry (sector 5) and
- Waste (sector 6).
Note that for any particular industry, emissions may be generated through more than
one emissions process. For example, for the aluminium sector process emissions from
the production of aluminium are accounted for in the Industrial Processes sector
while the fuel combusted for energy in the production process is accounted for in
the Energy sector. Similarly, for the agricultural industry, emissions from fuel
combustion are reported under ‘energy’, while emissions from agricultural processes
(for example enteric fermentation) are recorded under ‘agriculture’. Future development
work for the AGEIS will enable these data to be aggregated to provide a better picture
of overall emissions from individual economic sectors.
Source
- Any process or activity that releases a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor
of a greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.
Submission Year
- The year in which the AGO submits its national inventory report and is always two
years later than the current inventory year. The submission comprises a complete
time-series of inventory years from the baseline year (1990).
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Tier
- The IPCC methods for estimating emissions and removals are divided into ‘Tiers’
encompassing different levels of activity and technology detail. Tier 1 methods
are generally straightforward (activity multiplied by default emissions factor)
and require less data and expertise than the most complicated Tier 3 methods. Tier
2 and 3 methods have higher levels of complexity and require more detailed country-specific
information on things such as technology type or livestock characteristics. The
concept of Tiers is also used to describe different levels of key source analysis,
uncertainty analysis, and quality assurance and quality control activities.
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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
- An International treaty that commits signatory countries to stabilise anthropogenic
greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would prevent dangerous interference with
the climate system. The UNFCCC also requires signatories to develop and update national
inventories of anthropogenic emissions of all greenhouse gases not otherwise controlled
by the Montreal
Protocol.
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