b'FLUXES The European Greenhouse Gas BulletinKey takeaways their measures to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They also use data to participate in emis-sion trading systems or carbon markets.MRV systems are science- andNational governments: Observation-based MRV procedure-based, and help countries,systems can help countries track their progress on a cities, organisations and companiesvariety of climate mitigation plans and policies, such as monitor, report and verify their individualcarbon farming systems. and collective actions to reduceThe European Union: The EU has ambitious emissions greenhouse gas emissions. reductions targetsa recent, non-binding proposal by MRV systems are designed tothe European Commission could see the region aim to complement and support existingcut net emissions by 90% by 2040 compared to 1990 reporting procedures, such as thelevels. These sorts of targets cannot be achieved UNFCCC inventories. without effective follow-up systems. MRV systems Everyone benefits from MRV systemsmake it easier to track progress.because they operate on a local, nationalGlobally: The Global Stocktake, a United Nations-led and global scale. process in which countries and stakeholders assess MRV systems require long-termcollective progress towards meeting the Paris Agree-investmentfinancial, technical andment goals, requires methods beyond the national personnelto function. inventories.How can observational dataplay a part in MRV?C ountries need to monitor, report and verifyObservations are direct measurements of the concen-tration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a what they are doing individually andcertain moment, most commonly carbon dioxide and collectively to reduce greenhouse gasmethane. emissions. At its core, an MRV system isUsing observational data in MRV systems is benefi-designed to do just that, supporting policycial because the combination of information from and actions to mitigate climate change. ground-based networks and satellites provides a pattern of greenhouse gas concentrations over space Who benefits from monitoring, reportingand time. That data contains valuable information and verification of carbon emissions? about gas exchanges (fluxes) between land, oceans and the atmosphere. Despite its origins, the term MRV is not limited to theAnalysing these patterns provides important knowl-realm of national inventories. Robust, observa- edge on fossil fuel emissions and more. tion-based MRV systems benefit decision makers onFor me, MRV is a capacity to make use of atmos-the local to global scale: pheric observations - this would be the monitoring part, explains Dr Marko Scholze, Senior Lecturer at Local and regional level: Cities and regions often havethe Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem climate action plans in place as well as establishedScience at Lund University. MRV frameworks to track progress, assess their climateIn a nutshell, MRV allows you to see if you can actions and report on their carbon reduction targets.reconcile whatever you estimate from models using MRV systems, particularly observation-based MRVatmospheric records (data) with reported emissions systems located in urban areas, have the potential to(inventories).support and complement other existing frameworks.Observation-based MRV systems are not designed Businesses: Companies need to show their stakeholderswith the intent of replacing inventories. Instead, they verified data on their efforts to reduce emissions orhave the potential to improve inventories. One example'