ABOUT

To enable the European Union (EU) to move towards a low-carbon economy and implement its commitments under the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal, ambitious targets to cut emissions in the EU have been set.

To independently assess the progress of countries towards their targets, an objective way to monitor anthropogenic CO₂ emissions and their evolution over time is needed. Such a capacity would deliver consistent and reliable information to support informed policy- and decision-making processes, both at national and European level. To maintain independence in this domain, the European Commission proposed to establish an observation-based operational anthropogenic CO₂ emissions Monitoring and Verification Support capacity (CO2MVS) as part of its Copernicus programme.

Prototype system for a Copernicus CO₂ emission monitoring service

The CoCO2  project will contribute to the development of the European CO2MVS capacity. CoCO2 will deliver the prototype systems  at the required spatial scales that will form part of the overall implementation in the Copernicus programme. The prototypes will link to as much of the already existing Copernicus infrastructure as possible, and  ensure all necessary components needed for the attribution of CO₂ emissions are designed and developed:

• Earth system models, 
• Data assimilation techniques, 
• Prior emission estimation, 
• Optimizing the use of satellite and in-situ observations,
• Evaluation & quality control,
• Interface to users.

The CoCO2 project is a continuation of the CO₂ Human Emissions (CHE) project, and  will continue some of the work initiated in the Verifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions (VERIFY) project.