What is this report about?
In response to growing business demands, the Green Transition Office has prepared a study on greenhouse gas emission factors for electricity generation and consumption in Ukraine
The report provides a publicly available dataset on greenhouse gas emission factors for electricity generation and consumption from the Integrated Power System of Ukraine. The dataset includes average emission factors for electricity supplied to the grid, average emission factors for electricity consumption, and marginal emission factors. The report also contains definitions and explanations of the types of factors and the specific use cases for each.
In addition, the study proposes a methodology for calculating emission factors for electricity generation and consumption that can be approved at the state level for regular data collection and annual updates of emission factor datasets.
Why do we need national emission factors for electricity?
For Ukraine, there is no single publicly available up-to-date, reliable and accurate data on emission factors for electricity. Different organisations have published information on emission factors for the Ukrainian power system in different periods and for different purposes, but most of the data is outdated and inaccurate. The International Energy Agency’s data is the most reliable, but it is not open, published with a delay, and does not cover all needs of all users of emission factors data. In addition, the IEA data are based on official state statistics, which are not fully collected and published during the martial law regime. Other data sources are less reliable and provide very different indicators, which leads to significant inconsistencies and diverse estimates.
The definition of a unified methodological approach to the calculation of national emission factors and relevant sources of information for data collection will allow for regular publication of national emission factors in the public domain for further use by all stakeholders.
National emission factors can be used by businesses and government agencies for various purposes, including determining the carbon footprint of products as part of the requirements of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, corporate greenhouse gas emissions accounting in accordance with the GHG Protocol, assessing emission reductions resulting from investment projects, evaluating the effectiveness of government policy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, etc.
What are the findings of the study?
Average emission factors for electricity in Ukraine’s power system (t CO2/MWh):
Average emission factors for electricity can be used to determine the carbon footprint of products or for corporate greenhouse gas accounting.
Marginal emission factors for electricity in Ukraine’s power system (t CO2/MWh):
Marginal emission factors for electricity can be used to assess emission reductions resulting from energy- saving projects or the use of renewable energy sources.
For information on additional emission factors, please refer to Section 7.
A limitation of this study is the exclusion from the analysis of information on the activities of power plants of enterprises (autoproducers) due to the lack of reliable data on fuel consumption, total production and electricity supply to the grid in recent years. Although their share in the total electricity supply to the grid usually does not exceed 2%, the use of carbon-intensive fuels such as blast furnace gas may slightly affect the value of emission factors. In the future, it is recommended to include this category, preferably based on data for each individual installation, to ensure the completeness and accuracy of emission factor accounting for electricity generation and consumption.
How was the study conducted?
The study was prepared by the Green Transition Office as an advisory body to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine in cooperation with the Recovery and Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.
As part of the study preparation, a detailed analysis of available data sources and methodologies for calculating the emission factors was conducted, as well as working meetings and consultations with various stakeholders. In particular, discussions on problematic issues and available sources of information were held with experts from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the National Center for GHG Emission Inventory, NPC Ukrenergo, and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission.
What should be done next?
The study also contains a number of recommendations, including the adoption of an official methodology for calculating emission factors for electricity generation and consumption, further improvement of data quality, and the expansion of the scope of calculations, including by incorporating power plants of enterprises and detailed statistics on their activities.
The Green Transition Office is an independent advisory body to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, which supports implementation of reforms in the area of green transition, energy and climate policy. The work of the Green Transition Office is supported by the UK’s International Development Agency and implemented by NGO DiXi Group.
The views expressed in the study are solely those of the NGO DiXi Group (Green Transition Office).