Monitoring, accounting, and reporting

A mechanism for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and removals by sinks^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]} in the Member States was set up in 2004.31 In 2013 the 2004 Decision was replaced by a regulation in order, inter alia, to implement new monitoring and reporting requirements.^ It requires the Member States to operate and seek to continuously improve national inventory systems, in accordance with UNFCCC requirements, to estimate anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks (Art 4), and establishes a Union inventory system administered by the Commission (Art 5). The Regulation furthermore provides for EU and Member State registries to be maintained to accurately account for the issue, holding, transfer, and so on of the different tradable credits issued under the Kyoto system (Art 7). There are also extensive provisions that aim to ensure timely and accurate reporting to the UNFCCC Secretariat by the Union and its Member States.

• [1] Conclusions on 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework (n 23) 4. 26 Ibid, 5.
• [2] 27 Ibid, 6. 28 Ibid, 5 and 6.
• [3] 29 Report from the Commission—Climate action progress report, including the report on the func
• [4] tioning of the European carbon market and the report on the review of Directive 2009/31/EC on the
• [5] geological storage of carbon dioxide (18 November 2015) COM(2015) 576 final, 5.
• [6] A ‘sink’ is defined by the UNFCCC, Art 1, as any process, activity, or mechanism which removesa greenhouse gas, an aerosol, or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
• [7] Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol [2004] OJ L 49/1.