INVITATION TO TENDER: Saint Lucia’s 2024 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
1. INVITATION
The Government of Saint Lucia is inviting consultants to submit tenders for a consultancy to conduct its 2024 0 (GHG) for reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The submission should be guided by the Terms of Reference contained herein.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
CONSULTANCY: Saint Lucia’s 2024 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHG) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
2. BACKGROUND
The Government of Saint Lucia, through the Department of Sustainable Development (DSD), a division of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training is currently embarking on key activities for the preparation of its Fourth National Communication (FNC) and its First Biennial Transparency (BTR 1) report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Saint Lucia is required to periodically submit a National Communication (NC) every four years and a Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) every two years to the Conference of Parties (COP) and the Paris Agreement (PA), under the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF).
The FNC is a commitment of each party in accordance with Article 12, Paragraph 1, of the Convention to provide the following elements to the Conference of the Parties, as established in Article 4, Paragraph 1, of the Convention:
A. A national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, to the extent its capacities permit, using comparable methodologies to be promoted and agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties;
B. A general description of steps taken or envisaged by the Party to implement the Convention;
C. Any other information that the non-Annex I Party considers relevant to the achievement of the objectives of the Convention and suitable for inclusion in its communication, including, if feasible, material relevant for calculations of global emission trends.
The national communication is a vital medium for the exchange of information on how each Party is implementing the Convention and also for highlighting the issues, problems, gaps and constraints thereof, faced by non-Annex I Parties. It also provides the COP with the information it requires to assess the overall aggregated effects of the implementation of the Convention.
In the context of the ETF, countries are expected to submit a BTR, covering information on national inventory reports (NIRs), progress towards NDCs, policies and measures, climate change impacts and adaptation, levels of financial, technology development and transfer and capacity-building support, capacity-building needs and areas of improvement.
Each Party’s BTR will be subject to Technical Expert Review (TER), which will consider the NIR, information necessary to track progress made in implementing and achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), and information on financial, technology development and transfer, and capacity-building support provided to developing country Parties. Parties are to effectively communicate the aforementioned, including good practices, priorities, needs and gaps, in order to inform the Global Stocktake under Article 14 of the PA. Furthermore, Parties will participate in a Facilitative Multilateral Consideration of Progress (FMCP), with respect to their efforts on financial support under Article 9 of the PA and implementation and achievement of their NDC.
The Financial Mechanism of the UNFCCC, which includes the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), has provided funding to facilitate the preparation of the Saint Lucia’s First BTR1 and FNC. By virtue of a Project Cooperation Agreement with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) office in Nairobi, UNEP, through its Umbrella Programme, will function as the Implementing Agency for both projects. At the national level, the Department of Sustainable Development (DSD) of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training will function as the Executing Agency for the duration of the projects. Saint Lucia’s latest GHG Inventory was produced in 2020 for the years 2000-2018, as part of Saint Lucia’s First Biennial Update Report (BUR1) and was submitted to the UNFCCC. The GHG inventory was compiled based on the 2006 IPCC methodology and guidance and the 2019 refinement to the 2006 IPCC methodology and guidelines. This consultancy is required to conduct Saint Lucia’s 2019-2023 GHG Inventory to serve both the BTR and FNC projects.
3. INTRODUCTION
The GHG Inventory will estimate the country’s anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) not controlled under the Montreal Protocol, to the extent the country’s capabilities will permit, and following the guidelines for the National Communications for Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention (Decision 17/cp.8), and through the application of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines and Methodology for compiling GHG inventories. Furthermore, under the scope of the BTR, the NIR must consist of a national inventory document and common reporting tables in accordance with Chapter II of the Modalities, Procedures and Guidelines (MPGs) (Decision 18/CMA.1) for the transparency framework for action and support referred to in Article 13 of the PA.
The national inventory report will, at a minimum, provide information on:
a) National circumstances and Institutional arrangements for compiling GHG inventories;
b) Methodologies and metrics used, including for data collection, key category analysis, time series consistency and recalculations, uncertainty assessments, assessment of completeness, and measures and approaches to ensure quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC)
c) General trends of national emissions and removals;
d) An inventory of national emissions for each sector, categories and sub categories and greenhouse gases aligned with the BTR reporting format (common reporting tables);
e) An analysis to confirm the key categories by level and trend and considerations for including others in accordance with IPCC Guidance;
f) The inventory period determination in accordance with the NC and BTR guidelines;
g) Uncertainty assessments in accordance with IPCC guidelines;
h) Assessment of completeness;
i) QA/QC control measures and QA/QC plan;
j) Metrics for the 100-year time horizon global warming potential;
k) Recommendations for future improvement of the inventory process and outputs;
l) Methods and cross-cutting elements;
m) Assessment of not estimated categories in accordance with MPG decision 18/CMA.1;
n) Flexibility provisions where required;
o) Archiving documentation.
The consultant and the project management team from DSD, will jointly engage sector groups based on the key categories in previous NCs and BURs to support data collection, analysis, verification and QA/QC. The consultations to be convened will examine the feasibility of expanding the key categories based on additional, reliable data that may be available, and related recommendations made. The inventory process will also include capacity development activities to further improve national capabilities in data collection, analysis, quality control, archiving and retrieval, as well as, using the IPCC software or other appropriate software to calculate the GHG emissions and removals.
The focus of this consultancy is the production of ONE (1) GHG inventory and TWO (2) National Inventory Reports (NIR) on Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), for the years 2019-2023 utilizing the:
(a) 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Inventories and any subsequent version of or refinement to these IPCC guidelines agreed upon by the Conference of Parties serving at the meeting of the Parties to the PA (CMA);
(b) IPCC Good Practice Guidance reports for Non-Annex I parties, taking into account the need to improve transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness and accuracy in the inventory;
(c) 2019 refinement, where the available data permit.
Of the two reports, each should be specific to the FNC and BTR1 projects, respectively. The consultancy will see the completion of a validation exercise for the 1994, 2000-2018 data which has been submitted to the UNFCCC; and production of time series data for the years 1990-2023. These outputs will be submitted as part of Saint Lucia’s Fourth National Communication and First Biennial Transparency Report respectively to the UNFCCC.
4. OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of this Consultancy are outlined as follows:-
4.1 Coordinate a validation exercise of 1994, 2000-2018 data used in the previous reporting period in order to enhance the capacity to conduct, prepare and report on the GHG Inventory in-keeping with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for greenhouse Gas Inventories and the associated Good Practice Guidance, where appropriate;
4.2 Estimate Saint Lucia’s anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all GHGs not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, to the extent the country’s capacities permit, in accordance with Articles 4 and 12 of the Convention, and related decisions of the COP, including the guidelines for National Communications for Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention (Decision 17/CP.8), the MPGs (Decision 18/CMA.1) for the transparency framework for action and support referred to in Article 13 of the PA, and through the application of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines and Methodology for compiling GHG inventories;
4.3 Determine any deficiencies and provide capacity improvement activities for local experts to be engaged in the inventory process with the view to improving local capacity to generate quality of inputs into the inventory process, as well as, to produce national GHG inventories;
4.4 Conduct training of local stakeholders, as well as, DSD project staff and build capacity through information dissemination and supervision of local stakeholders in the use of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Inventories and the IPCC Good Practice Guidance (GPG) where appropriate;
4.5 Conduct training on GHG inventory and the Common Reporting Tables (CRT) for project staff at DSD, national GHG inventory experts and local stakeholders;
4.6 Prepare and submit Saint Lucia’s NIR on Greenhouse Gases for 2019-2023 along with time series data for 1994, 2000-2018 to the Department of Sustainable Development of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training.
N.B. One (1) GHG inventory, with two (2) reports to be prepared:
i. NIR for The Fourth National Communication with guidelines for National Communications for Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention (Decision 17/CP.8), and;
ii. NIR for the BTR1, consisting of a national inventory document and common reporting tables, in accordance with Chapter II of the MPGs.
5. METHODOLOGY
The Consultant will be expected to conduct training for local stakeholders and the project staff of DSD and oversee the data collection and data input processes for the National GHG inventory. The Consultant will work in conjunction with the Climate Change Project Team and shall perform all tasks listed below in the scope of services required. The Consultant, if necessary, may find it beneficial to include a local counterpart as part of their Team.
1. Local training must be in a face-to-face mode so that trainees can receive maximum feedback and interaction with the Consultant;
2. The Consultant will be required to compile required CRT tables;
3. The Consultant must utilise 2006 IPCC Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Inventories, along with the 2019 refinements and Good Practice Guidance (GPG), where appropriate;
4. Primary and secondary data collection must be used to validate previous reporting figures and to generate time series data for 1994, 2000-2018, as well as, to compile the 2019-2023 NIR. In cases where there are missing emission values resulting from a lack of activity data, emission factors or other parameters, surrogate data, extrapolation, interpolation and other methods consistent with splicing techniques contained in the IPCC guidelines should be used to fill in data gaps and ensure a consistent time series.
6. SCOPE OF SERVICES REQUIRED
The Consultant will be required to consult the relevant documents outlined in Section 4 above and work in close consultation with the Project Management Unit (PMU) for the FNC and the BTR1 within the DSD of Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training. The Consultant is expected to undertake the following:
6.1 Conduct a validation exercise for 1994, 2000-2018 data; as well as to compile the 2019- 2023 NIR with a consistent annual time series. If needed, in light of Saint Lucia’s capacity, utilize the flexibility provision (Annex to decision 18/CMA.1; paragraph 57), and report data covering, at minimum, the reference year/period in the NDC under Article 4 of the PA, and in addition, a consistent annual time series from at least 2020 onward;
6.2 Update all previous inventory tables using the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventory;
6.3 Assess level of data availability and collection of data for each of the key GHG emission categories of the economy for the period 1994, 2000 to 2018;
6.4 Conduct energy balances for the Energy Sector for 2018-2023, in consultation with the Energy Division;
6.5 Undertake satellite imagery interpretation for LULUCF;
6.6 Review and update in-house training material where necessary to facilitate training of local stakeholders;
6.7 Conduct training workshop on the execution of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories, with special emphasis on the GPG requirements;
6.8 Select and execute the most appropriate inventory methodology (tier system), taking into consideration the level of available national activity data;
6.9 Conduct key sources analysis following IPCC guidelines, estimate the uncertainty for these sources, and propose an improvement plan for key categories with high uncertainty. If flexibility is required in light of capacity, use the flexibility provision in the MPGs to identify key categories using a threshold value, no lower than 85 per cent, in place of the 95 per cent threshold defined in the IPCC guidelines;
6.10 Identify, collect and use the required emission factors and coefficients and use appropriate defaults where national and/or appropriate regional statistics are lacking; or propose plans to develop such emission factors and activity data in accordance with the IPCC guidelines;
6.11 Ensure the use of consistent methodologies as much as possible and perform recalculations as appropriate;
6.12 Oversee the data compilation and input into the requisite tables and programmes for the GHG inventory compiled by local stakeholders. When completing common reporting tables, notation keys must be used where numerical data are not available, and reasons must be provided as to why emissions from sources and removals by sinks and associated data for specific sectors, categories and subcategories or gases are not reported (Decision 18/CMA.1, Annex, Paragraphs 31 and 32);
6.13 Finalise and endorse the GHG inventory compiled by local stakeholders;
6.14 Prepare and Circulate the GHG Inventory for review and comments by PMU and Technical Expert Group;
6.15 Prepare a GHG Inventory chapter for the FNC and BTR 1.
6.16 Write the NIR which describes:
i. The procedures and arrangements undertaken to collect and achieve the data and information;
ii. The data sources used to compile the inventory and the methodology selected from the 2006 IPCC guidelines used to develop the Inventory; as well as, a description of the tool used (e.g. IPCC tool);
iii. The assumptions behind the implementation of the methods;
iv. Areas where data may be further improved and proposed cost-effective national or regional plans and programmes to develop or improve country-specific or regional emissions factors and activity data;
v. Anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks, reported by category and gas;
vi. The level of uncertainty associated with inventory data, their underlying assumptions, and the methodologies used for estimating these uncertainties.
vii. The quality control (QC) procedures and quality assurances (QA) undertaken for ensuring data robustness.
viii. Key category analysis following the 2006 IPCC guidelines;
ix. Brief summary including a description of the emissions and removals reported in previous reports to UNFCCC and any recalculations.
7. DELIVERABLES
The Consultant shall deliver the following:-
1. A work plan at the start of the consultancy, which clearly indicates the methodology and anticipated target outputs;
2. Revised training manual within two (2) weeks of start of consultancy;
3. Conduct a one-week training workshop for local stakeholders on a date to be decided with Project team;
4. Two project specific (FNC and BTR1) National Inventory Reports (NIR) after review and validation by various stakeholders;
5. A presentation of findings at a meeting of relevant agencies;
6. National GHG Inventory Chapter for Fourth National Communication Report, and the Biennial Transparency Report, including the methodologies used in compiling the inventory, the data sources and control procedure for each;
7. Compile a bibliography of all information sources (Documents, library, database).
8. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
The Consultant must:
• Demonstrate prior experience and expertise in conducting Greenhouse Gas Inventories for National Communications and/or Biennial Transparency Reports for developing country Parties to the UNFCCC.
• Have a university degree in Environmental Studies, Development Economics or related field with at least five years’ experience in working with Greenhouse Gas Inventories in developing country Parties.
Successful applicants must also demonstrate a thorough knowledge/ hands-on experience with the following:
8.1 Decision Adopted by the COP Decision 17/CP.8: Guidelines for the Preparation of National Communications from Parties not Included in Annex 1 to the Convention Adopted by the Conference of the Parties;
8.2 Modalities, procedures and guidelines for the transparency framework for action and support referred to in Article 13 of the Paris Agreement;
8.3 Technical handbook for developing country Parties on Preparing for implementation of the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement;
8.4 Definitions and Methodological Options to Inventory Emissions from Direct Human-induced Degradation of Forest and De-vegetation of other Vegetation Types;
8.5 Good Practice Guidance for Land-use, Land-use change and Forestry;
8.6 Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in Greenhouse Gas Inventories;
8.7 IPCC Greenhouse Gas Inventory Software
8.8 Report of the Conference of the Parties (COP);
8.9 The 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (Volumes 1 to 5);
8.10 UNFCCC Resource Guide for preparing the National Communications of Non-Annex 1 Parties.
9. TIMEFRAME
The Consultant will be contracted for a period of six (6) months.
10. REMUNERATION
The Consultant is required to submit a bid for evaluation, following which negotiations will be held with the successful applicant. In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to technical competence, qualifications and experience, local and regional experience on similar assignments, proposed cost and existing commitments.
11. SUBMISSION
A complete proposal consisting of separate technical and financial proposals should be contained in individual sealed envelopes and should be placed inside a sealed outer envelope. The sealed outer envelope containing submissions should be marked:-
“CONFIDENTIAL”
“Proposal – Consultancy Services to Produce Saint Lucia’s National Greenhouse Gas GHG Inventory for the Fourth National Communication (FNC) and First Biennial Transparency Report (BTR1) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)”
The envelope should NOT contain company logos or the Consultant’s name.
The envelope containing the technical proposals should be marked:
TECHNICAL PROPOSAL
Consultancy Services to Produce Saint Lucia’s
National GHG Inventory for the FNC and BTR1 to the UNFCCC
The envelope containing the financial proposals should be marked:
FINANCIAL PROPOSAL
Consultancy Services to Produce Saint Lucia’s 2024
National GHG Inventory for the FNC and BTR1 to the UNFCCC
Submissions must be made to the following address, no later than 16:30 hours on, Friday November 29, 2024:
Chairperson
The Public Procurement Committee
Department of Sustainable Development
Georgianna Court, John Compton Highway
Castries
SAINT LUCIA, W.I.
All information must be submitted in English. If the Consultant chooses to submit:
• hard copies, three (3) hard copies of the Proposal for Consultancy Services must be received at the above-mentioned address
AND/OR
• soft copies, with email title and file names appropriately labelled as referenced above, must be e-mailed to the Chairperson of the Public Procurement Committee at email address [email protected].
All queries should be emailed to [email protected], no later than Tuesday November 22, 2024.