ITMS User Meeting at the German Environment Agency (UBA)
On September 15 and 16, our ITMS User Meeting was once again held at the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in Dessau-Roßlau.
The third ITMS user meeting took place on September 15–16, 2025, at the German Environment Agency (UBA) in Dessau-Roßlau. The purpose of these meetings is to systematically integrate the user perspective – especially from UBA and the Thünen Institute – into the project and to discuss requirements, questions, and feedback on the Integrated Greenhouse Gas Monitoring System for Germany (ITMS) in a direct, collaborative setting. In addition, the results of the European Horizon project PARIS (https://horizoneurope-paris.eu/) have been discussed.
Over the two days, project partners presented the latest developments and results concerning greenhouse gas source attribution. Key topics included advances in inverse modeling, comparisons of inversion results with the PARIS project and with the national greenhouse gas inventory, especially concerning the Land use, Land use change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector, and new approaches for better representing sources and sinks. Central to all discussions was how ITMS results can be effectively applied to support the national emissions inventory in the future.
UBA, as the host, contributed valuable insights, particularly regarding transparency, comparability, and international reporting obligations. The Thünen-Institute contributed in-depth knowledge on the LULUCF sector. The discussions explored opportunities for closer collaboration between research institutions and government agencies.
In addition to the technical presentations, the meeting provided space for in-depth discussions and exchange among participants.
Feedback from attendees highlighted the importance of the format: the user meeting provides a direct interface between research and applications and helps ensure that ITMS results can be effectively integrated into policy-making processes.
We sincerely thank the German Environment Agency for hosting the event and look forward to continuing the exciting dialogue.