Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2022 - Annex 8: QA/QC Procedures

The purpose of this annex is to describe the Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) procedures and information quality considerations that are used throughout the process of creating and compiling the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks. This includes the evaluation of the quality and relevance of data and models used as inputs into the Inventory; proper management, incorporation, and aggregation of data; and review of the numbers and estimates to ensure that they are as accurate and transparent as possible. Quality control—in the form of both good practices (such as documentation procedures) and checks on whether good practices and procedures are being followed—is applied at every stage of inventory development and document preparation. In addition, quality assurance occurs at three stages— an expert review and a public review in the process of developing the report, followed by an international peer review of the final published report coordinated by the UN. While all phases contribute to improving the quality of the Inventory, the public review phase is also essential for promoting the openness of the Inventory development process and the transparency of the inventory data and methods. As described in respective source and sink category text, comments received from these reviews may also result in updates or changes to continue to improve inventory quality.