Low-carbon City Inventory Method for the Local Scale

Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory has played a fundamental role in providing scientific political-making evidence in mitigation. For a particular case study, Japan offers a positive performance in reducing GHG emissions since an early age, and the GHG Inventory Office of Japan was established in 2002 and is making efforts on publishing both “National GHGs Inventory Report of Japan” and “GHGs Emissions Data of Japan” annually. This paper covers local Japanese inventory development from a global range to a domestic level and offers its general reporting criteria nationwide. Furthermore, through a case study of recalculating 2010 Saga Prefecture’s GHG emission, local inventory methodology is investigated in six GHGs (including CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, and SF6) and forestry sectors. In this section, recalculating methodologies, especially regarding calculated fields and basic formulations categorized by GHG types, are introduced in detail. Then, it provides limitations and improvements of the inventory reformation. Further, future research directions are discussed as well. This research exhibits an inventory method at the local scale and offers its improvements by the author to provide some experiences and lessons for the research and mitigation policy-making practices in other parts of the world.