A Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory For South Africa: A Comparative Analysis

A comparative analysis among the various greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories of South Africa is conducted, and in the process new inventories for 2007 and 2008 are constructed. The need for such a comparative analysis exists due to the number of inventories that have been published by, among others, the South African Department of Energy (DoE), the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), the International Energy Agency (IEA), Scholes and van der Merwe (1996), Howells and Solomon (2000), and Blignaut et al. (2005). Not only are these emission inventories relatively dated and requiring an update, but they also make use of different methodologies and report on the emissions using different industrial classifications. This paper proposes a consistent and theoretical rigorous approach to construct a reliable and timeous GHG emissions inventory. To accomplish this task, this paper develops GHG emissions databases for 2007 and 2008 in terms of industrial sectors, using the energy balances of South Africa. The South African Department of Energy (DoE), the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), as well as the International Energy Agency (IEA) published emissions data for South Africa. However, there seems to be inconsistencies between the different emission datasets. • The IEA database, while providing useful information for the comparison analysis with other countries, neither provides disaggregated emissions per sector nor includes other (non-CO2) greenhouse gas emissions. • The DoE has recent data and on a desired level of disaggregation; however, due to data gaps it probably underestimates emissions. • The DEAT inventory, while it includes a high level of disaggregation with an all-inclusive approach, is relatively dated providing an inventory only until 2000. Based on the consistent similarity between the Blignaut et al. (2005) and the 2006 IPCC Emissions Guidelines inventories, as well as the methodological rigor of both approaches, compared to the ambiguous treatment of several sectors in the DoE inventory, the suggested inventory to use is either the inventory constructed using the same emission factors as Blignaut et al. (2005) or the one using the 2006 IPCC Emissions Guidelines.