Study evaluates China’s progress in establishing accounting measures to reinforce its Paris pledge
The latest round of United Nations climate talks in Poland in December sought to get the world on track to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement’s long-term goal of keeping global warming well below two degrees Celsius. Toward that end, negotiators from the agreement’s nearly 200 signatory nations were asked to report on their country or region’s progress toward fulfilling its Paris pledge, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). But just how accurate were those progress reports? That depends on the integrity of the underlying greenhouse gas emissions data that each country used to assess its performance toward meeting the emissions reduction targets spelled out in its NDC. The measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of a country’s overall emissions and emissions reductions involves culling and validating emissions data from multiple sources, including firms — industrial, nonprofit, and government entities — in different economic sectors. Building reliable firm-based systems for emissions MRV is no...