EYE-CLIMA will support National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (NGHGIs), and thus the Paris Agreement, by developing independent observation-based methods for verifying emission estimates of greenhouse gases and the aerosol species, black carbon. Independent verification is much needed and is recognized by the IPCC in their 2019 refinement of the guidelines for NGHGIs.
To mitigate global warming, emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and other atmospheric constituents with positive radiative forcing, need to be urgently reduced. Nearly all nations have pledged to reduce their emissions of GHGs by signing the Paris Agreement – an international treaty that was first agreed in 2015 and now has 197 signatories. Progress towards this target will be monitored through a process known as the Global Stocktake in which the collective achievement on emissions reductions will be assessed every 5-years - the first of which is to be completed in 2023.
The Global Stocktake, and thus the success of the Paris Agreement, hinges on the information nations provide about their emissions. This is currently through detailed National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (NGHGIs) for developed (Annex-1) countries and through Biennial Update Reports (BURs) and National Communications (NCs) for developing (non-Annex-1) countries. Since these are the basis of the Global Stocktake, it is essential that the reported emissions are as accurate as possible and are up to date. However, the framework for emissions reporting is hampered by infrequent reporting (at least from developing nations), potentially inaccurate emissions estimates, and a lack of independent verification.
EYE-CLIMA will address the need for independent verification of NGHGIs by developing top-down methods based on atmospheric inversion (using both satellite remote sensing and ground-based observations) to a level of readiness where they can be used to determine emissions at national and sub-national scales and be incorporated into NGHGIs. In addition, EYE-CLIMA will work closely together with NGHGI compilers, in particular, through pilot projects, to determine what data products they need for verification and to develop a system of verification and reconciliation of NGHGIs that they can use.
IIASA will contribute to EYE-CLIMA with the GAINS model; assessment of uncertainties and drivers of forest biomass change across Europe; reconciliation of top-down and Russian NGHGI; and lead WP5 regarding the project outreach.
Several IIASA research groups are involved, incl. Pollution Management (PM), Agriculture, Forestry, and Ecosystem Services (AFE), and Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES).
The EYE-CLIMA Consortium includes 21 partners, under the coordination of NILU (Norway). EYE-CLIMA is a Horizon Europe funded project.