Comparative analysis of greenhouse gas emission inventory for Pakistan: Part II agriculture, forestry and other land use and waste

Understanding Pakistan's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission status is critical for identifying the national targets for GHG mitigation with respect to the nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This study focuses on the development of Pakistan's GHG (CO2, CH4, and N2O) inventories for agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) and waste sectors using 2006 IPCC Guidelines. This study should be seen as a direct continuation of the preceding one (Part I [ Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accre.2020.05.002 ]) which discusses energy and industrial processes and product use in compliance with the 2006 and 1996 IPCC Guidelines. It also provides sector-specific comparative time series (1994–2017) analysis of GHG inventories, identification of key categories, and national GHG emissions trend for Pakistan. The results indicate an average relative difference (on average for time series 1994–2017) of 19% and 6% in total GHG emissions (CO2-eq) from AFOLU and waste sector respectively between 2006 and 1996 IPCC Guidelines. The absolute difference over the entire time series for AFOLU and waste sector was in the range of 3–67 Mt CO2-eq and 1–7 Mt CO2-eq respectively. Findings further reveal that the quantity of national GHG emissions by 2006 IPCC Guidelines is 10% lower on average for complete time series compared to 1996 IPCC Guidelines. The average relative difference for total national emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O is −1%, 9%, and 48% respectively. Key category analysis based on 2006 IPCC Guidelines estimates identified three categories, each contributing ≥10% to the level assessment in the latest year 2017 and accounting for approximately half of the national GHG emissions. In order to further improve the reliability of GHG inventories, Pakistan needs to move from 1996 to 2006 IPCC Guidelines under a higher Tier approach particularly for identified key categories.