Ricardo supports Vietnam government develop GHG monitoring
The British Embassy in Hanoi and Ricardo Energy & Environment have joined forces to provide the Vietnam’s Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change with expertise in the development of greenhouse gas inventories as well as the development of a monitoring, reporting and verification entity. The capacity building programme, which aims at helping the country meet global climate change targets, will last one year.
The global pact to keep greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to levels leading to less than a 2.0°C global warming is starting to be ratified, currently counting 23 signatures. To prepare for the coming into force of the agreement, countries across the globe are looking critically at their emissions profiles to identify ways of bringing about sustainable transformation in line with the agreement.
While considerable preparation was done before the conference, including from the private sector, to prepare the delegates for the negotiation process, supporting countries – particularly developing countries – with the tools to meet their respective targets may remove barriers and speed up transformation.
In support of Vietnam moving towards its Paris goals, the British Embassy Hanoi and Ricardo Energy & Environment, supported by the UK Prosperity Fund 2016-2017, have been taking comprehensive stock of the country’s greenhouse gas inventories and are building the country's local capacity to meet UN requirements. The work includes supporting the Vietnams’ government develop inventory as well as Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems and an independent and sustainable National Inventory System (NIS) that meets United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requirements.
The MRV is an institution that allows states to collect a range of information, including emissions, mitigation efforts, for international review and analysis. The entity provides transparency internationally with respect to partners’ efforts to meet their climate obligations.
The ‘capacity building programme’ will span a year and aims to support Vietnam’s Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change (DMHCC)’s greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory compilation team gain hands on experience in developing technical standards as well as monitoring inventories. The programme will, among others, involve the development of templates and guidance for improved data collection and management, a series of workshops, as well as the sharing of ‘best practice’ and experience from the UK – where the firm has operated a similar programme since 1996. The output of the yearlong programme is a 2016-2020 GHGI implementation and reporting roadmap, which is aimed towards creating the MRV and NIS.
Rose Bailey, Principal Consultant at Ricardo Energy & Environment, says, “We are extremely proud to support the government of Vietnam with realising its ambitious Paris climate commitments, and move towards a lower carbon economy. By sharing this experience on best practice we will help the Vietnamese government to overcome the common hurdles to GHG implementation and quickly meet its ambition for excellence in emissions monitoring and reporting.”
