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Special Report
on Selected Side Events at SB 24 |
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Events
convened on Thursday, 18 May 2006 |
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2006 IPCC
guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories |
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Presented
by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate
Change |
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Jim Penman, UK Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, provided an overview
of the origins, structure and approach of the 2006 IPCC
guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories.
Noting that they cover five volumes, he described some of the
new developments, including: coverage of all GHG gases with
global warming potential (GWP); estimation methods for carbon
capture and storage; and introduction of annual and direct
emission estimates.
Newton Paciornik,
Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, presented the
volume on General Guidance, explaining it contains guidance on
the principles applied through different sectors such as
transparency, completeness, consistency, comparability and
accuracy.
Tinus Pulles, TNO Built
Environment and Geosciences, said new developments in the
volume on Energy include: achieving a clear separation between
the sectoral and reference approach in estimating emissions;
improving clarity on non-energy use of fuels; and including
estimation methods for carbon capture and storage and methane
from abandoned coal mines.
Jochen Harnisch, Ecofys,
highlighted that the volume on Industrial Processes and
Product Use includes guidance on emissions from: new sources
in the chemical industry; zinc, lead and ferro-alloys in the
metal industry; and photovoltaic cells in the electronics
industry.
N.H. Ravindranath, Indian
Institute of Science, listed some advances in the Agriculture,
Forestry and Other Land-Use (AFOLU) volume, inter alia:
the integration of agriculture and land-use change in
forestry; the adoption of six land-use categories; the
incorporation of key category analysis; and the consistent
classification of land uses. Keith Paustian, Colorado State
University, added that the volume contains guidance on
emission estimation from diverse land uses such as pasture and
managed rangelands, flooded lands and lands managed for peat
extraction.
Riitta Pipatti, Statistics
Finland, noted that the volume on Waste contains improved and
new guidelines on estimating emissions from solid waste
disposal, wastewater treatment and discharge, biological
treatment of solid waste and on incineration and open burning
of waste.
Taka Hiraishi, IPCC Task
Force on National GHG Inventories, highlighted that using new
guidelines is each Parties’ responsibility and there is high
intersectoral collaboration between the five volumes.
Participants discussed
accuracy of future inventories, implementation of new
guidelines, consistency between old and new inventories, need
for improved data collection in developing countries and
issues relating to guidelines on wetlands. | |
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Strategies for
the future climate framework: highlights from CCPA’s recent Future Actions
Dialogue |
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Presented by
the Center for Clean Air Policy |
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Jake Schmidt, Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP),
outlined a proposal for stabilizing global emissions post-2012
through sector targets for major industries in developed and
developing countries. He explained this bottom-up approach aims at
encouraging developing countries to make sectoral GHG intensity
pledges in key industrial sectors. Schmidt added that developing
countries would receive technology incentives from developed
countries and international financial institutions to adopt more
aggressive targets. He noted that inclusion of the ten largest GHG
emitting developing countries in each sector would ensure coverage
of 80-90% of GHG emissions from all developing countries in each of
the selected sectors. He emphasized that reductions achieved beyond
the voluntary pledges would be eligible for sale as emissions
reductions credits to developing countries and failure to meet the
pledge level would not involve penalties.
Edward Helme, CCAP, informed that his organization
is concluding the third year of its Dialogue on Future International
Actions to Address Global Climate Change, which brings together
senior climate change negotiators from over 30 developed and
developing countries to identify and discuss options for the
post-2012 regime. He provided an overview of the implications of the
‘no lose’ voluntary targets for the transportation sector, noting
that almost 80% of the global vehicle fleet is produced by 15
companies in nine countries. He stressed that efficiency
improvements can be counteracted by increased vehicle weight and
performance as well as additional amenities. He indicated that the
CCAP technology-based sectoral proposal received positive feedback
during the Dialogue.
Fernando Tudela, Ministry of Environment and
Natural Resources, Mexico, called for transcending the project-based
approach by adopting a sectoral approach to emission reductions. He
explained that the "no lose" targets are linked to the nature of
unstable economies in developing countries, where paying a penalty
for non-compliance would be politically unacceptable. He underscored
that a recent study in Mexico suggested that converting to higher
diesel technology is cost effective in light of the health cost
savings such a conversion would create. He added that carbon finance
would help developing countries reduce their emissions further and
faster.
Participants discussed the number of benchmarks
needed to capture the major industrial processes, ways in which
energy intensity benchmarks can address competitiveness issues and
compared savings achieved by upgrading technology and improved
driving
conditions. | |
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Current
operation and future developments of the CITL and ITL |
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Presented by
the European Community |
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Andrew Howard, UNFCCC Secretariat, discussed the
implementation of the International Transaction Log (ITL), which
acts as a communications hub that connects all registries. He
explained that the ITL checks transactions against technical
standards and policy-related rules, and feeds EU transactions to the
Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL) for supplementary
checking. He said it safeguards the integrity of Kyoto compliance
accounting by controlling that transactions conform to Kyoto
Protocol rules and tracks international movement of emission
allowances. Noting that the ITL is only required to be operational
by the 2008-2012 commitment period, he stated that under the EU
Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) the ITL allows CDM project credits
to be used by EU companies, pushing the operational date to April
2007 for linking the national registries.
Howard emphasized that the ITL needs to be fully
compatible with data exchange standards, and highlighted the Log’s
characteristics, including its resilient architecture and size,
which is designed to cope with the increase in the transactions rate
of the carbon market. He indicated that the Secretariat is
endeavoring to ensure that: the ITL is secure, reliable and
available to support registries and the market; the EU ETS’ needs
are fully integrated into Kyoto registries; and that the registry
system administrators are becoming more established.
Istvan Bart, European Commission, described the
CITL, noting that it uses the same code as the ITL but differs from
it functionally. He provided an overview of the EU ETS, highlighting
that 22 of the 25 Member States have active registries, with 9,400
installations. He explained that the CITL checks and logs
transactions between member State registries and provides a website
that enables access to information on account holders’ allocations
and verified emissions. He said the ITL would become a fundamental
part of the EU ETS and emphasized that in light of the dependence of
trading on the computer system, the latter has to be transparent,
water tight, and stable.
Participants discussed: exclusion of forestry
credits under the EU ETS linking directive; whether EU ETS
transactions will pass through the ITL; security differences between
the CITL and ITL; and assigned amount units use in the second phase
of the EU ETS. | |
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Broadening the
base of financing for technology transfer |
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Presented by
the International Center for Environmental Technology
Transfer |
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Elmer Holt, Climate Technology
Initiative (CTI), noted the need to leverage public and private
funding to meet technology transfer needs for climate change
mitigation in developing countries.
Wanna Tanunchaiwatana, UNFCCC
Secretariat, discussed lessons learned from workshops conducted by
the Expert Group on Technology Transfer (EGTT) in Bonn and Montreal
where financers and Parties discussed ways to link technology
transfer projects with funding opportunities. Emphasizing that
private sector funding exists to support technology transfer, she
cited the lack of good project proposals as a barrier to tapping
into this funding. She explained that EGTT’s future work will
include coaching and training programmes for project developers in
developing countries and the development of a practitioner’s guide
on project proposal development.
Kishan Kumarsingh, Chair of
SBSTA-24, discussed actions needed to enhance private financing
prospects and highlighted key messages from the two EGTT workshops,
including the need for: capacity building for project developers;
mobilizing local resources, including natural, human, institutional,
and financial; considering technical and political risks; mobilizing
domestic capital; and creating an investor-friendly
environment.
Bernard Mazijn, EGTT, discussed
the need to create an enabling environment to involve the private
sector and increase financing flows for technology transfer. He
stated that the EGTT is currently working on a technical paper on
innovative options for financing and a practitioner’s guide for
project proposals, which aims at improving the likelihood of project
financing, to be published at COP12. He highlighted the need for ODA
to build capacity and increase the quality of Technology Needs
Assessments to bridge the gap between project development and
financing.
Peter Storey, HERA International
Group, emphasized that project developers need to consider the
suitability of their projects for private funding at an early stage.
He explained that the private sector looks for: consistent
regulatory, legal and commercial frameworks; commercially and
technically experienced project sponsors; use of proven
technologies; repayment ability and security; risk sharing and
diversification; and adequate returns. He highlighted the CTI’s
Private Financing Advisory Network as a tool for helping project
developers to determine and seek out appropriate sources of
funding.
Participants discussed various
barriers to obtaining financing for projects, including: high
relative transaction costs for small projects; development risks;
and obtaining government
guarantees. | |
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The Earth
Negotiations Bulletin on the side (ENBOTS) © <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> is a special
publication of the International Institute for Sustainable
Development (IISD). This issue has been written by Asmita Bhardwaj,
Alice Bisiaux, Robynne Boyd, and Alexandra Conliffe. The
photographer is Francis Dejon. The Digital Editor is Diego Noguera.
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Director of IISD Reporting Services is Langston James “Kimo” Goree
VI <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. The opinions
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