Draft decision, how the rules for reporting climate emissions will change

2026-06-17 07:20:31, Aktualitet CNA

Reporting related to climate change, and specifically data on greenhouse gas emissions and removals, is expected to change in an effort to bring the national system closer to European Union rules.

A draft decision of the Ministry of Environment issued for consultation provides for changes to Council of Ministers Decision No. 889/2022, which regulates "monitoring, reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and other information related to climate change at the national level."

The accompanying report states that, "within the framework of Albania's integration process into the European Union", Albanian legislation should deepen its alignment with that of the EU in the field of climate change.

The act is partially aligned with EU Regulation 2018/1999, “on the governance of the energy union and climate action”. The draft decision requires the Ministry responsible for the environment and the National Environment Agency to “continuously improve the national greenhouse gas inventory system”.

The system must ensure “timely reporting, transparency, accuracy, consistency, comparability and completeness of the national inventory.” The amendments add definitions for “technical corrections,” “quality assurance (QA)” and “quality control (QC)” to the regulation.

Preliminary greenhouse gas inventory data will be prepared annually, starting from 15 January 2025, and will be reported to the Energy Community Secretariat. The report states that VKM 889/2022 sets out obligations for the “collection, processing, monitoring, reporting, verification and archiving” of the required data.

The draft decision foresees a full review of the national inventory in 2027 and 2032. The review will include checks on the “transparency, accuracy, consistency, comparability and completeness” of the information submitted. The text also includes the LULUCF sector, which relates to land use, land use change and forestry.

The document foresees the creation and operation of “a national electronic registry, as part of the Integrated Environmental System.” This registry must ensure “the accuracy, integrity and traceability of the recorded data.”

The report states that the drafting of the act comes as a need for "unification of progress reporting procedures" for energy and climate. The draft decision charges the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance, the KTA, the National Forestry Agency, INSTAT and other public institutions with implementation./monitor.al