Illerup, J.B., Lyck, E., Nielsen, O.-K, Mikkelsen, M.H., Hoffmann, L., Gyldenkærne, S., Nielsen, M., Sørensen, P.B., Vesterdal, L., Fauser, P., Thomsen, M. & Winther, M. 2006. NERI Technical Report No. 589, 555 pp.
Executive summary
Annual report
This report is Denmark’s National Inventory Report (NIR), for submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), for 15 April 2006. The report contains information on Denmark’s inventories for all years from 1990 to 2004. The structure of the report is in accordance with the UNFCCC guidelines on reporting and review. The report includes detailed information on the inventories for all years, from the base year to the year of the current annual inventory submission, in order to ensure transparency.
The annual emission inventory for Denmark from 1990 to 2004 is reported in the Common Reporting Format (CRF). The CRF spreadsheets contain data on emissions, activity data and implied emission factors for each year. Emission trends are given for each greenhouse gas and for total greenhouse gas emissions in CO2 equivalents.
The issues addressed in this report are: Trends in greenhouse gas emissions, description of each emission category of the CRF, uncertainty estimates, explanations on recalculations, planned improvements and procedure for quality assurance and control.
The NIR is available to the public on the National Environmental Research Institute’s homepage, (search for "National Inventory Report 2006").
The CRF-tables are available at the Eionet web site.
This report does not contain the full set of CRF-tables. Only the trend tables, Tables 10.1-5 of the CRF-format, are included in Annex 9.
Concerning figures, please note that figures in the CRF-tables (and Annex 9) are in the Danish notation which is “,” (comma) for decimal sign and “.” (Full stop) to divide thousands. In the report (except where tables are taken from the CRF as “pictures” as Annex 9) English notation is used: “.” (Full stop) for decimal sign and (mostly) space for division of thousands. The English notation for division of thousand as “,” (comma) is not use due to the risk to be misinterpreted in Danish.
Institute responsible
The National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), under the Danish Ministry of the Environment, is responsible for the annual preparation and submission to the UNFCCC (and the EU) of the National Inventory Report and the GHG inventories in the Common Reporting Format, in accordance with the UNFCCC guidelines. NERI is also the body designated with overall responsibility for the national inventory under the Kyoto Protocol. The work concerning the annual greenhouse emissions inventory is carried out in cooperation with other Danish ministries, research institutes, organisations and companies.
Greenhouse gases
The greenhouse gases reported under the Climate Convention are:
• Carbon dioxide CO2
• Methane CH4
• Nitrous Oxide N2 O
• Hydrofluorocarbons HFCs
• Perfluorocarbons PFCs
• Sulphur hexafluoride SF6
The global warming potential (GWP) for various gases has been defined as the warming effect over a given time of a given weight of a specific substance relative to the same weight of CO2. The purpose of this measure is to be able to compare and integrate the effects of individual substances on the global climate. Typical lifetimes in the atmosphere of substances are very different, e.g. aproximaty for CH4 and N2O, 12 and 120 years respectively. So the time perspective clearly plays a decisive role. The lifetime chosen is typically 100 years. The effect of the various greenhouse gases can, then, be converted into the equivalent quantity of CO2, i.e. the quantity of CO2 giving the same effect in absorbing solar radiation. According to the IPCC and their Second Assessment Report, which UNFCCC has decided to use as reference, the global warming potentials for a 100-year time horizon are:
• CO2 : 1
• Methane (CH4 ): 21
• Nitrous oxide (N2 O): 310
Based on weight and a 100-year period, methane is thus 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2, and N2O is 310 times more powerful than CO2 . Some of the other greenhouse gases (hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride) have considerably higher global warming potentials. For example, sulphur hexafluoride has a global warming potential of 23,900. The values for global warming potential used in this report are those prescribed by UNFCCC.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The greenhouse gas emissions are estimated according to the IPCC guidelines and are aggregated within seven main sectors. The greenhouse gases include CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs and SF6. Figure 1 shows the estimated total greenhouse gas emissions in CO2 equivalents from 1990 to 2004. The emissions are not corrected for electricity trading or temperature variations. CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas, followed by N2O and CH4 in relative importance. The contribution to national totals from HFCs, PFCs and SF6 is approximately 1%. Stationary combustion plants, transport and agriculture represent the largest sources. The net CO2 removals by forestry and soil (Land Use Change and Forestry (LUCF)) represent approximately 3% of the total emissions in CO2 equivalents in 2004. The national total greenhouse gas emission in CO2 equivalents without LUCF has decreased by 1.5% from 1990 to 2004 and by 5.5% with LUCF.
Figure 1: Left: Greenhouse gas emissions in CO2 equivalents by main sector for 2004.
Right: Time-series for 1990 to 2004.
Energy
The largest source of the emission of CO2 is the energy sector, which includes the combustion of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. Public power and district heating plants contribute with more than half of the emissions. Approximately 24% comes from the transport sector. The CO2 emission decreased by approximately 9% from 2003 to 2004. A relatively large fluctuation in the emission time-series from 1990 to 2004 is due to inter-country electricity trade. Thus, high emissions in 1991, 1996 and 2003 reflect a large electricity export and the low emission in 1990 was due to a large import of electricity in that year. The increasing emission of CH4 is due to increasing use of gas engines in the decentralised cogeneration plants. The CO2 emission from the transport sector has increased by 24% since 1990, mainly due to increasing road traffic.
Agriculture
The agricultural sector contributes with 15% of the total greenhouse gas emission in CO2-equivalents and is one of the most important sectors regarding the emissions of N2O and CH4. In 2003, the contributions to the total emissions of N2O and CH4 were 83% and 65%, respectively. The main reason for a fall of approximately 31% in the emission of N2O from 1990 to 2003 is legislative demand for an improved utilisation of nitrogen in manure. This results in less nitrogen excreted per livestock unit produced and a considerable reduction in the use of fertilisers. From 1990, the emission of CH4 from enteric fermentation has decreased due to decreasing numbers of cattle. However, the emission from manure management has increased due to changes in stable management systems towards an increase in slurry-based systems. Altogether, the emission of CH4 for the agricultural sector has decreased by 7% from 1990 to 2004.
Industrial processes
The emissions from industrial processes – i.e. emissions from processes other than fuel combustion, amount to 4% of total emissions in CO2-equivalents. The main sources are cement production, nitric acid production, refrigeration, foam blowing and calcination of limestone. The CO2 emission from cement production – which is the largest source contributing with 2.3% of the national total – increased by 74% from 1990 to 2004. The second largest source is N2O from the production of nitric acid. The N2 O emission from this production has decreased by 49% from 1990 to 2004. The production of nitric acid in Denmark stopped in mid-2004.
The emission of HFCs, PFCs and SF6 has, since 1995 until 2004, increased by 145%, largely due to the increasing emission of HFCs. The use of HFCs, and especially HFC-134a, has increased several fold, so HFCs have become dominant F-gases, contributing 67% to the F-gas total in 1995, rising to 94% in 2004. HFC-134a is mainly used as a refrigerant. However, the use of HFC-134a is now stable. This is due to Danish legislation, which, in 2007, forbids new HFC-based refrigerant stationary systems. Running counter to this trend, however, is the increasing use of air conditioning systems among mobile systems.
Waste
Waste disposal is the third largest source of the CH4 emission. The emission has decreased by 20% from 1990 to 2004, at which point the contribution from waste was 19% of the total CH4 emission. This decrease is due to the increasing use of waste for power and heat production. Since all incinerated waste is used for power and heat production, the emissions are included in the 1A1a IPCC category. The CH4 emission from wastewater handling amounts to around 5% of the total CH4 emission.
Quality assurance and quality control
A plan for implementing Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) in greenhouse gas emission inventories is included in the report. The plan is in accordance with the guidelines provided by the UNFCCC (Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and Guidelines for National Systems). ISO 9000 standards are also used as an important input for the plan (Sørensen et al., 2005).
In preparation of Denmark's annual emission inventory, several quality control (QC) procedures are already carried out, as described in Chapters 3-8. The QA/QC plan will improve these activities in the future.
The main objective is to implement a plan that comprises a framework for documenting and reporting emissions in a way that emphasises transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness and accuracy. To fulfil these high criteria, a data structure is proposed that describes the pathway, from the collection of raw data to data compilation and modelling and final reporting.
As part of the Quality Assurance (QA) activities, emission inventory sector reports have been prepared and sent to national experts, not involved in the inventory development, for review. To date, the reviews have been completed for the stationary combustion plants sector and the transport sector. In order to evaluate the Danish emission inventories, a project where emission levels and emission factors are compared with those in other countries has been started.
Completeness
The Danish greenhouse gas emission inventory, which was due 15 April 2006, includes all sources identified by the revised IPPC guidelines except the following:
Agriculture: The methane conversion factor in relation to the enteric fermentation for poultry and fur farming is not estimated. There is no default value recommended by the IPCC. However, this emission is seen as non-significant compared with the total emission from enteric fermentation.
Recalculations and improvements
Considerable improvements in the inventories and the reporting have been made in response to the latest UNFCCC review process, and as a result of an on-going working process.
The main improvements are:
Stationary Combustion
The N2 O emission factor for coal combusted in large power plants has been changed for 1990-2003.
Mobile sources
Inland waterways/agriculture/forestry/household-gardening
A complete revision of the 1985-2003 time-series of fuel use and emissions has been made using results from a specific Danish non-road research project.
Industry
Emissions of CO2 from production of mineral wool and expanded clay products, refining of sugar, flue gas cleaning (wet process) in relation to waste incineration, combined heat and power plants, and power plants have been included. The indirect emission of CO2 , and the emission of NMVOC from asphalt roofing and road-paving with asphalt have also been included.
Solvent
A survey based on new methodologies results in new NMVOC emission estimates. The changes are mainly caused by new information on the amounts of propane and butane used as propellants.
Agriculture
The changes with regard to the CH4 emission are due to a recalculation of the emission factor for cattle. Recent research shows that the principal feedstuff used (sugar beets) results in a higher methane conversion rate than the default values.
Due to changes in the methodology for calculating the emission from organic soils in the LULUCF sector, the N2 O emission in the agricultural sector from histosols has been recalculated.
Waste
The emission estimates methodology for wastewater handling was introduced for the first time in the inventory submission in March-April 2005. Data in this methodology has been updated and revised for the current submission.
Cropland, grassland and wetlands
Mineral soils are, for the first time, incorporated in the inventory.
For the National Total CO2 Equivalent Emissions without Land-Use Change and Forestry, the general impact of the improvements and recalculations performed is small and the changes for the whole time-series are between -0.89% and +0.08%. Therefore, the implications of the recalculations on the level and on the trend, 1990-2003, of this national total are small.
For the National Total CO2 Equivalent Emissions with Land-Use Change and Forestry, the general impact of the recalculations is rather small, although the impact is larger than without LULUCF due to recalculations in the LULUCF sector. The differences are positive for all years. The differences vary between –2.51% and +0.54%. These differences refer to recalculated estimates, with major changes in the forestry sector for those years.
Full report in pdf format (6,022 kB).
