Greenhouse gas monitoring

National Reporting Obligations

Parties to the UNFCCC must submit national communications on implementation of the Convention to the Conference of the Parties (COP). The national communications consist of two separate components; Part I deals exclusively with inventories and requires the submission and publication of an annual report, while Part II requires periodic reporting (about every 4 years) on emission trends, projections, policies and measures, and national circumstances.

Ensuring the reporting of accurate, consistent and internationally comparable data on greenhouse gas emissions is key to monitoring progress in reducing emissions as well as to help inform and direct the development of emission reduction programs and policies. International reporting rules require that accurate inventories are prepared in accordance with the principles of transparency, completeness, consistency and comparability and that proper quality control and quality assurance procedures are implemented and documented to facilitate third party review. Both the national inventories and the national communications submitted by Canada are subject to a review conducted by an international team of experts.

Related Resources

• Canada's International Actions on Climate Change - Information on Canada's commitment to international action on climate change including commitments under the UNFCCC, and involvement with the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate and other international investments and partnerships
• Canada’s official greenhouse gas inventory - Detailed accounting and reporting of Canada's anthropogenic emissions and removals of greenhouse gases