Comparative Study on the Institutional Designs for National Greenhouse Gas Inventory—The Cases of Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand—

Abstract

Transparency-related cooperation with developing countries is essential for promoting the effectiveness implementation of the Paris Agreement. However, little study has been done to extract lessons learned from the experiences of developed countries under the stringent reporting requirements of the Kyoto Protocol and examine their applicability in developing countries. This paper made a comparative analysis about the institutional designs for national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories in Japan as well as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. The case of Japan finds that the quantitative commitment for emission reductions has served as a strong driver for the continuous quality improvement of GHG inventories, and this improvement has been made possible with endogenous research contributions. The cases of the three countries in Southeast Asia, on the other hand, identify variations in the way of engaging national experts, which partly originates from the differences in the endogenous research base. This study also indicates that none of these three countries has established any systematic channel to incorporate the latest research findings into GHG inventory preparation. This paper extended discussions about the implications of these findings for cooperation with developing countries for transparency-related capacity development.