New MOIT-Circular governs MRV and GHG Inventory of industrial facilities

In December, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) issued technical regulation for emission transparency and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories in the industry and trade sector Circular No 38/2023/TT-BCT. The circular applies to specific industrial facilities, which will be asked to submit GHG inventories.

This requirement came forward with the milestone policies on mitigation of GHG emissions (Decree 06/2022/ND-CP). Apart from its inventory requirements, the Decree is laying the ground for developing the carbon market, which will be applied to the highest-emitting industrial facilities first. Currently, those facilities that emit at least 3,000 tons of CO2 equivalent or consume 1000 tons of oil equivalent.

The greenhouse gas inventory will include the following aspects:

• Fuel burning for electricity production and energy consumption in industries
• Mineral exploitation activities
• Emissions from chemical and physical processes that, apart from fuel burning in the chemical and metallurgical industries
• Emissions from refrigerant solvents

The technical steps of greenhouse gas inventory in the Industry and Trade sector will go through the following steps:

1. Determine source of emissions under the greenhouse gas inventory.
2. Collect data for the greenhouse gas inventory. The regulation provides specific templates to help data collection.
3. Select emission factors.
4. Calculate the emission inventory using predefined methods of the circular (depending on the source of emission)
5. Implement quality control measures internally and external verification
6. Assess uncertainty of the greenhouse gas inventory.
7. Recalculate the results of greenhouse gas inventories from previous years based on the results.
8. Develop a facility-level greenhouse gas inventory report.

With the circular, MOIT takes a significant step towards implementing GHG emission transparency and preparing the industry for the carbon market. The policy aims to boost the implementation of GHG emission reduction in the industrial sector and increase the sector’s ownership of their emissions.