In 1997 the Republic of South Africa ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In July 2002, five years after ratification of the convention, the South African government signed the Kyoto Protocol. In order to fulfil its obligation under the UNFCCC, the South Africa government is required to prepare a national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory in order to provide a platform for complying with future commitment under the Convention and any other associated protocols.

The first national GHG inventory in South Africa was prepared by the CSIR in 1998, using the base year 1990. This data set was then updated with 1994 data and published in 2004. These inventories were developed using the Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines (IPCC, 1997) for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

Subsequent to this a national inventory for the year 2000 was compiled in 2009, largely using the 2006 IPCC guidelines. The reasons for using the updated methodology were to (a) improve the transparency and completeness of the South African National Inventory and reduce double accounting; and (b) use methods that are based on current and best science. Furthermore, South Africa is at the beginning phases of developing and improving its inventories and databases so it makes sense to use the most recent guidelines.