2026 Asia-Pacific & Africa GHG Inventory Training Workshop

Background

Across the globe, the Asia-Pacific remains the largest emitting region. Recent reviews indicate the region accounts for roughly 52% of energy-related CO₂ emissions and ~60% of total GHG emissions, reflecting rapid industrialization and continued reliance on fossil fuels. However, there are marked regional variations, coal dominates East Asia’s power mix (about 70% of APAC fuel‑combustion CO₂ is from coal), while several Southeast countries are stabilizing emissions growth as renewables scale and energy intensity improves. Positive signs include recent slowdowns in power‑sector intensity and expanded national energy balance coverage in multiple countries, improving the granularity of activity data used in inventories.

Africa contributes only around 4% of global fossil CO₂ emissions, but emissions are growing from a low base and the continent is disproportionately vulnerable to climate impacts, with significant adaptation needs and data/monitoring gaps. The African region is also advancing on carbon markets, with several governments moving to activate high‑integrity carbon markets, for example via the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) and emerging national frameworks, making inventory QA/QC and institutional data systems critical for credit integrity and Article 6 readiness. Strengthening data quality and integrity of GHG Inventories is essential to advance reliable GHG offset financing mechanisms.

Building on the multi-year UNOSD GHG workshops, which have progressively narrowed focus to the energy sector and combined pre-workshop online webinars with hands-on in-person training, feedback has been strongly positive, especially on the mix of technical sessions, peer learning and tool-focused practical capacity building activities.

Many countries across Asia-Pacific and Africa are now moving from ad‑hoc processes toward institutionalizing GHG inventory and transparency systems tied to ETF reporting. However, compiling regular GHG inventories demand consistent, verified activity data and governance arrangements at the national level, areas where targeted support is still needed. This demonstrates the need for a multi-year, cohort-based programme focused on the energy sector and anchored in institutional arrangements and activity data systems which can provide the depth and continuity countries need to build robust inventories and integrate them into subsequent BTR cycles.

Objectives of the three-year training programme

A three-year training programme will be implemented with a selected cohort of Asia-Pacific and African countries to strengthen GHG inventory institutional arrangements and systems, prioritising countries that can commit to such a multi-year programme.

This multi-year programme will centre on the energy sector as a sectoral case and aligned with ETF requirements. Energy sector GHG data comprises the majority of emissions data in most countries, as such it is low-hanging fruit to use as a test case for strengthening broader GHG inventory governance, and data systems overall.

Purpose and objectives:

1. Institutionalise national arrangements for energy-sector GHG inventory (lead entity, legal basis, data-sharing agreements, QA/QC, data systems and archiving).
2. Co-develop robust energy-sector inventories using the IPCC Inventory Software and ETF GHG Inventory Reporting Tool (CRTs), emphasizing activity data pipelines and emission factor management.
3. Integrate results into Parties’ BTRs and build user confidence in ETF tools and the BTR/NID/CRT workflow.
4. Develop targeted guidance (as needed) on activity data collection, verification, conversion, and archiving for energy sub-sectors (fuel combustion; reference vs sectoral approach; overlaps with IPPU & waste).

Organizers

This workshop will be organized by the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the International Technical Unit of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency - Global Support Programme (CBIT-GSP), and the NDC Partnership

Venue

The workshop will be held at Meeting Room H in the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.
Address: Rajadamnern Nok Avenue Khwaeng Bang Khun Phrom, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200, Thailand