Methodological
and Data Choice In the IPCC Guidelines and Good Practice
Guidance, methods are generally referred to as “Tiers”,
with higher tier methods being more advanced.
The IPCC Good Practice Guidance provides decision trees to help
Parties in the selection of data and methods (i.e., Tiers) for each
individual category. These decision trees are intended to direct
the Party to use the best method and data possible, given its national
circumstances.
In general, it is good practice for Parties to utilize
higher tier methods, with their associated more detailed data, in
particular for key categories.
Parties are, however, permitted some flexibility in applying these
decision trees as long as the choices made by the Party result in
estimates that are of equivalent quality to those described in the
IPCC Good Practice Guidance.
This flexibility is an important characteristic of the IPCC Guidelines
and the Good Practice Guidance because it recognizes that parties
have different national circumstances (e.g., availability of historical
data). Although good practice is meant to direct Parties
to use more rigorous methods and more detailed data, what is defined
as “good practice” can vary from Party to Party depending
on its own unique features.
|