Article details the methodology of the emissions estimating system of the Observatório do Clima, a joint Brazilian initiative involving more than 40 institutions
Chemical engineer David Shiling Tsai, collaborator for the RCGI’s Project 28, is one of the researchers who signed the article “SEEG initiative estimates of Brazilian greenhouse gas emissions from 1970 to 2015”, published on May 29, in Scientific Data, by the Nature group. Tsai is an employee of the Institute of Energy and Environment (IEMA), which is a member organization of the Climate Observatory (Observatório do Clima – OC).
“The initial idea of the System for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions (SEEG) was to reproduce the official Brazilian emissions inventories, in order to make user-friendly data available. But we ended up going beyond the official estimates. We gathered additional information and were also able to present the data on emissions for each Federal Unit, which are not available in the estimates done by the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation, and Communication,” Tsai said.
Furthermore, according to the engineer, the SEEG data cover a greater period of time, compared to the Ministry’s official system for measuring emissions, Sirene, which records the emissions from 1990 to 2015. He says that the next natural step of the work would be to break down these data according to municipalities. “We are seeking funding for this next phase.”
As an undergraduate student in Geography in the School of Philosophy, Letters, and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo (FFLCH/USP), Tsai sought out Professor Luis Antônio Bittar Venturi, coordinator of Project 28, to guide him in preparing the thesis for concluding his degree.
“He will add much to the Project and to all of the RCGI, because this article in which he is taking part does an analysis of the evolution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across Brazil over a period of 46 years, that is, these are data that can support multiple studies of the RCGI. For Project 28, as a chemical engineer, he will add specific information regarding emissions, because that is not exactly our area of expertise: knowing what each energy source emits, and what the impact is.”
According to Venturi, Tsai is formatting a project in which he will use a tool that the Project 28 team has recently created and for which a patent application has already been filed: a method for managing urban phenomena. “This is a win-win situation with Tsai coming to the RCGI,” he said.