Imagine trying to track a leak in a giant pipe by only looking at the blueprints; that's how most countries track pollution. This project adds a 'sniffer' to the air to see where the gas is actually coming from in real-time. By comparing the blueprints with the actual air samples, they can pinpoint exactly who is emitting what and where.
National and corporate emission inventories often rely on simplified 'bottom-up' estimates that are inaccurate. This leads to regulatory uncertainty and difficulty in identifying the actual sources of greenhouse gas leaks.
A combined atmospheric observation and inverse modeling system. It produces draft annual Annexes to National Inventory Reports for 8 countries.
If you are a refrigerant producer dealing with imprecise emission reports — this project developed top-down constraints that evaluate inventory models for fluorinated gases. This allows for a more accurate understanding of the magnitude of leaks and emissions across 8 European countries.
If you are an agricultural operator dealing with uncertain nitrous oxide reporting — this project developed process-level models to produce time- and space-resolved estimates. This helps in identifying specific sources of emissions rather than relying on simplified bottom-up estimates.
If you are a carbon auditor dealing with discrepancies between reported and actual emissions — this project developed a combined bottom-up and top-down evaluation method. This provides a verified way to reconcile national reporting under UNFCCC and CLRTAP frameworks.
Based on available project data, no pricing or cost structures for the developed tools are provided.
The project is currently expanding observation networks and aligning models across 8 countries, indicating it is in the scaling and validation phase rather than full industrial deployment.
Based on available project data, there is no specific information regarding IP rights or licensing terms for the software and models developed.
The project helps reconcile reporting for the UNFCCC and CLRTAP frameworks by improving the accuracy of National Inventory Reports.
The first draft annexes for the eight focus countries are scheduled to be created in Autumn 2024.
The consortium is heavily research-oriented, consisting of 17 partners across 8 countries, with 12 universities and 1 research organization. Industrial participation is very low at only 1 company (6% ratio), suggesting the project's primary value is in creating scientific standards and regulatory tools rather than a commercial product.
Contact Universiteit Utrecht regarding the ICOS data portal inter-comparison tools.
Contact us to find out how to integrate top-down emission verification into your corporate ESG reporting.
