Webinar 1:

Greenhouse gas inventory for Energy, Industrial processes and waste from these sectors within the Third Biennial Update Report on Climate Change

The webinar started on March 19, 2020 at 09:45 with 35 participants (71% women, 29% men) from the relevant institutions. The aim of this webinar was presenting the latest prepared greenhouse gas inventory, as part of the Third Biennial Update Report on Climate Change. The project is implemented by MoEPP - Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, with technical and financial support from UNDP and GEF, and for the preparation of the inventory were engaged researchers from MANU, as well as local consultants.Initially, the moderator of the webinar, Pavlina Zdraveva, gave introductory information about the inventory of greenhouse gases and the way of its preparation in our country:

"With this last inventory, to the series of the greenhouse gas emissions from 1990-2014, were added also emissions of 2016. Efforts are being made to add the emissions of 2018 by the end of 2020.“
 
Then, the inventory for the sectors of Energy, Industrial processes, Use of products and Waste, and the trends of emissions in these sectors were presented by Verica Taseska-Georgievska (research associate at the Research Center for Energy and Sustainable Development ICEOR at MANU). She stressed the importance of defining the roles and identifying the key entities for preparing the inventories and providing data. Energy is the sector that contributes the most to the greenhouse gas emissions (74% in 2016), but it is good that emissions are declining. The decline in emissions is due to reduced coal production, higher imports of electricity and reduced consumption of oil for heating / solid fuels in households.

The inventory for the waste sector and the trends of the emissions in this sector were presented by Aleksandar Dedinec (research associate at MANU).

The waste sector was included in all 3 webinars in the series of these webinars precisely because the waste is related to all these sectors (i.e. all these sectors generate waste or contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in this sector). Currently, the waste sector contributes only about 6% of total greenhouse gas emissions, but this sector has an upward trend and in the near future a significant increase in emissions can be expected.

The presentations were followed by a productive and interesting discussion and comments from the participants regarding the improvement of the input data, the methodology, the possibilities for improvement and how to put this whole process (data collection, processing and distribution) in an institutional context within the Law on Climate Action which currently is being prepared.

The Energy sector, although is the biggest contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions, has the most detailed data that is sufficient to prepare the greenhouse gas inventories. The improved quality of the inventory is also due to good inter-institutional cooperation not only between governmental institutions, but also with academia and the private sector.

Furthermore, the method of calculating methane in different landfills listed by categories was discussed (given that in North Macedonia there is a semi-standard landfill that has no control over the methane that is created). In this regard, Ana Karanfilova, Head of the Waste Sector at the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, shared national waste policies (establishment of a regional system, closure of non-standard landfills, construction of a standard landfill according to all regulations and water treatment). These policies are already included in all strategic documents, national plans and the new draft laws. In this way there will be control and improvement of input data.

With regard to waste, it was concluded that the policies for the creation of standard landfills provision the capture and processing of methane, which are in fact measures to reduce greenhouse gases. In this regard, the non-governmental sector was called for support to send messages to citizens who contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Webinar 2

Greenhouse gas inventory for the sectors transport and waste of this sector within the Third Biannual Climate Change Report

The presentation of the inventory from the transport sector and the waste of this sector took place on 19.03.2020 where a review of the series of emissions from 1990 to 2016 was given. With this latest inventory, efforts are being made to cover the emissions of 2018 by the end of 2020.

They gave their presentations by sectors:
1. Transport - Alexander Dedinec
2. Road traffic - Elena Gavrilova
3. Waste - Verica Taseska Gjorgievska
4. Study for the transport sector - Policy and measures analysis - Alexander Dedinec

The analyzes for the respective calculations are made by Tier 2 method, according to IPCC and COPERT. Some of the conclusions showed that in 2016 there were 15.3% more registered vehicles than in 2012, where most of them were passenger cars, while CO2 emissions increased by 31.2% for the period 2014-2018.
Some of the conclusions as positive measures are: Subsidies for the purchase of bicycles, i.e. continuation of the existing policies and introduction of labels that will group the vehicles according to the level of exhaust gases, and after previously obtained data from the stations for technical inspections. When creating the results, a database was used by the Ministry of Interior, which is a limiting factor because it is not precise enough and for which it is necessary to introduce changes and unification.
Review of waste generated by this sector was given and ideas for the use of funds for fair transition, introduction of tax policy and subsidy measures were given.

The webinar was visited by about 30 participants, out of which 26% were men and 74% women.

Webinar 3

Greenhouse gas inventory for agriculture, forestry, livestock, land use change and waste from these sectors (AFOLU) within the Third Biennial Update Report on Climate Change 

The presentation of the inventory from the agriculture, forestry and land use sectors and the waste of this sector took place on 20.03.2020. The webinar was visited by about 50 participants, out of which 49% were men and 51% women.

The greenhouse gas inventory is part of the Third Biennial Update Report on Climate Change, and the project is implemented by MoEPP - Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, with technical and financial support from UNDP and GEF,. the preparation of the inventory were engaged researchers from MANU, as well as local consultants.

The process of preparation was institualized for the first time, with eganged researchers from the national academic community ((Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Forestry Sciences, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food and MANU).

Moderator of this webinar was Pavlina Zdraveva, while the presentations were done by:
- Dushko Mukaetov,professor in the Department of Pedology and Plant Nutrition at the Agricultural Institute - UKIM
- Ljupco Nestorovski, Head of the Department of Forestry Techniques and Operations, Professor at the Faculty of Forestry Sciences, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Engineering at UKIM,
- Sreten Andonov, professor at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, UKIM Institute of Animal Biotechnology, and
Verica Taseska - Gjorgjievska, research associate at the Research Center for Energy and Sustainable Development ICEOR at MANU


Dushko Mukaetov presented the active sources of greenhouse gases from the following sectors and subsectors: plant agricultural production, pastures, swamps, greenhouse gas emissions from different types of soils and waste, etc.

Prof. Ljupco Nestorovski gave an overview of forestry or forests and their contribution to the mitigation against climate change, as the only absorbers of greenhouse gases. He further pointed to fires and the deforestation as the biggest problems..

The input data for the calculation of greenhouse gas inventories in this sector are insufficient and with great uncertainty, although extremely important in terms of absorption of greenhouse gases, but also as a source of food revenue for the population in the country. For that purpose, within the project, efforts have been made to use satellite images that will improve the accuracy of the data for the AFOLU sectors. In addition, there was a discussion about the urgency of introducing new modern technologies (remote sensors) for land use, improving the inventory for commercial firewood and firewood, improving the inventory for affected fire regions and the damage caused by them, enhanced implementation of forest inventory, software (digital) updating of forest changes, and finally, data collection for non-timber forest products..

Prof. Sreten Andonov from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food spoke about livestock and greenhouse gas emissions depending on the type, breed, age, production system and physiological condition of the head performed through IPCC software. The conclusion was that dairy cows have the greatest impact on the environment with over 60% CO2 emissions, followed by 20% of other cattle, 12% of sheep, and less than 5% of goats, horses, pigs and other poultry.

The last presentation was given by Verica Taseska - Gjorgievska, research associate at the Research Center for Energy and Sustainable Development (ICEOR) at MANU, and she opened the topic of waste from these sectors and contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions, but also the opportunities for future use (eg. for obtaining biogas for electricity generation).

After the presentations, an interesting and professional debate was developed on the above-mentioned topics with the general conclusion that we are moving on the right path for dealing with climate change in this sector.