Community members with expertise in GHG emissions detection from satellite data are invited to contribute to a consultation response – by 9am, 14 December.
Space4Climate has been asked to respond on behalf of our community to a study on the UK’s greenhouse gas monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) needs. The survey is being carried out as part of the new Climate Services for a Net Zero Resilient World (CS-N0W) research programme which involves NCEO, NCAS, UK CEH and Ricardo Energy & Environment. The focus is the UK’s pathway to net zero by 2050 and how these might be met by current and emerging capabilities.
An important part of the research is obtaining input from knowledge-leaders in the field of monitoring, reporting and verification MRV, through the targeted survey and a stakeholder workshop next year.
Please contribute your brief responses to Sabrina Alam, Space4Climate Climate Services Development Technical Manager by emailing s.alam@reading.ac.uk by 9am on Tuesday, December 14. Sabrina will collate and submit the responses. If you have responded on behalf of your own organisation, please let Sabrina know.
The issues below are addressed via a series of sub questions. (Although the list includes a link to the survey, please contribute the points you want to be included in the Space4Climate to Sabrina at s.alam@reading.ac.uk) :
- What is the current landscape of activity on verification in the UK and internationally, and what has the impact of the activity been on understanding the accuracy of GHG inventories and assessing whether emissions reductions are leading to the anticipated reductions in atmospheric concentrations? This should identify the leading organisations, governments, and academic researchers that the UK should be engaging with routinely to collate and share and enhance best practice.
- To what extent could improving atmospheric monitoring capability fill important gaps in knowledge and help reduce uncertainties in the inventory, including in offshore oil, gas and shipping emissions, diffuse emissions from the waste, agriculture and LULUCF sectors, and diffuse fugitive sources of CH4 and H2 from energy and industry?
- What is the current technological capability, and what is the likely future capability in the medium-term (i.e., next five years) and long-term, for monitoring greenhouse gases in line with policy needs?
- What role could remote sensing play in the verification of estimates of GHG emissions and removals, and for which GHGs/sources does remote sensing data already have the capacity to calibrate/inform emissions estimation methods?
- Which areas of policy interest are best-served by bottom-up inventory approaches, and where might atmospheric measurements, in the longer term, be able to support emission estimates?
- Could atmospheric measurements enable tracking of the effectiveness of specific policies in near real time, and what are the levels of temporal, spatial and sectoral resolution required?
- What are the infrastructure requirements for increasing the role of measurements in tracking greenhouse gas emissions reductions?
More details on the overall programme can be found on GOV.UK.