Civil servants from 23 countries gather to build greenhouse gas reporting capacity

The Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Center of Korea, under the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, said it is jointly running the 16th International Greenhouse Gas Expert Training Course with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat at Sejong University for three weeks beginning Monday.

The center has run the course annually since 2011, and 498 experts from 109 countries have completed it to date. Since 2017, the program has been co-run with the UNFCCC secretariat.

The two sides renewed their MOU during Yeosu Climate Week in April and agreed to continue supporting greenhouse gas reporting capacity in developing countries through 2031.

This year's course brings together 24 civil servants and researchers from 23 countries, including Nepal and Liberia, along with domestic participants such as three graduate students, giving them firsthand experience of international cooperation in climate action.

The program's international reach has expanded further this year. The Australian government, which holds a co-presidency of the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP31) scheduled for Antalya, Turkey, in November, covered airfare for participants from Pacific island nations such as Papua New Guinea and from Southeast Asia.

The instructor lineup has also grown, with the University of Maryland joining the UNFCCC secretariat, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI) as course instructors.

The three-week curriculum is practice-oriented, covering everything from the basics of drafting a national greenhouse gas inventory report to sector-specific emission calculation methods and verification procedures across energy, industrial processes (IPPU), agriculture and land use (AFOLU), and waste.

Beyond classroom instruction, participants will visit the Global Green Growth Institute and the National Museum of Korea to hear directly about climate action efforts and international cooperation, and to experience Korean history and culture.

"Those who have completed this course are playing key roles in greenhouse gas statistics work in their home countries," said Choi Min-ji, head of the Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Center of Korea. "We will strengthen the quality of the training and broaden our support to include practical-level courses that directly assist in preparing biennial transparency reports."