Download Opportunities for the Caribbean in the Kyoto Protocol Negotiations

Let me thank the Caribbean Development Bank for asking me to be here to make this
presentation today. My name is Clifford Mahlung, Head Data Processing section,
Climate Branch, Meteorological Service of Jamaica. More important to this
presentation, I am Jamaica’s lead negotiator for climate change issues as well as the
current Vice-Chair of the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism.
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My presentation will focus on the Kyoto Protocol, in particular, the Clean
Development Mechanism. I will also speak about the status of the current climate
change negotiations. I will start that discussion with the outcome of the negotiations
that was held in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007 and are expected to be completed
in December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The opportunities for the Caribbean countries from the negotiations will be discussed
as well as the benefits that can be gained from the Clean Development Mechanism.
Finally, I will explore the possible role that the Caribbean Development Bank can play
in assisting Caribbean countries to fully participate in the Clean Development
Mechanism and the Adaptation Fund.
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention was adopted in
December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. This ended over two years of meetings that was
prompted by the realization in 1995 that the developed country Parties would be
unable to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions of mainly carbon dioxide to 1990
levels, by the year 2000. This commitment was a voluntary one driven only by the
ultimate objective of the Convention that of the stabilization of the concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The Kyoto Protocol is this instrument with a
legally binding quantified emission reduction limitation of 6% of the total 1990 levels
of greenhouse gas emissions to be achieved during the commitment period 2008 to
2012.
The Protocol entered into force on 16 February 2005, ninety days after ratification by
the Russian Federation making the total emissions of Parties in Annex One of the
Convention, 55% or more of the total CO2 emission that must be reduced.
The main achievement of the Kyoto Protocol is that as of January 2009 it had over
184 countries and one economic integration region (EEC) as Parties and the emission
reduction if achieved will account for about 64% of the total emissions. It also created
the carbon trading mechanisms that are quite successful.
The main limitations are the non-inclusion of the United States of America the largest
emitter of greenhouse gases at the time (about 25% of the global total), the noninclusion of the major developing countries whose emissions levels are quite
substantial and the fact that although a Compliance Mechanism was established it
has no sanction for countries who are in non-compliance.
The Bali Action Plan is the main outcome of the negotiations that were completed in
December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. It lay out the groundwork for the new agreement
to replace the Kyoto Protocol when the first commitment period end at the and of
2012. It identified four main pillars for the new agreement that is expected to be
adopted in December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. These are adaptation,
mitigation, technology and finance. These issues were selected since their success
outcomes would represent a full implementation of the Articles of the Convention.
The shared vision was added at the conference in Poznan, Poland.
The negotiations are facilitated under the work of the Ad-hoc working group on Longterm cooperative action by all Parties under the Convention.
Under the Ad-hoc working group on long-term cooperative action the five pillars can
be described as follows:
•Adaptation – the establishment of a framework that would assist developing
countries in particular the least developed countries and small island developing
states with meeting the cost of their adaptation;
•Mitigation – providing the opportunities for countries to mitigate climate change by
reducing their greenhouse gas emissions
•Technology – the development of a mechanism to enable the transfer of
environmentally sound , clean technologies from developed to developing countries.
•Finance – Identifying new and predictable sources of funding for financing,
mitigation, adaptation and technology transfer.
•Shared vision – Relates to the global effort that will be required for the stabilization
of the greenhouse gas concentration in atmosphere at stabilization levels that will not
pose an harmful threat to humans.
The negotiations are at the point where a negotiating text will be presented at the
next meeting of the working group.
A second working group the AWG-KP is also negotiating, among other things, a
second commitment period for those Annex one (developed countries) who are
Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The most ambitious target is from the Alliance of Small
Island States who are proposing a stabilization limit of 380 ppmv of carbon dioxide
emissions or quantified emission limitations of 45% of 1990 levels of greenhouse gas
emissions to be achieved by 2020 and 95% reduction of 1990 levels to be achieved by
2050. The other areas been discussed includes:
•Amendment to Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol and consequential amendments to
the Protocol flowing from the amendments to Annex B
•Emissions trading and the project-based mechanisms;
•Land-use, land-use change and forestry;
•Greenhouse gases, sectors and source categories;
•Common metrics to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalence of anthropogenic
emissions by sources and removals by sinks; and
•Methodological and other issues.
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•Caribbean countries who are Parties to the Convention and Protocol can benefit
from the current negotiations in the following ways:
•Any efforts to assist the most vulnerable countries to adapt to the impacts of
climate change will include the small island developing states of the Caribbean, who
as a group are among the countries that are at greatest threat form the impacts.
•Efforts to promote mitigation will help Caribbean countries to diversify their energy
sector and move from their total dependence on the use of fossil fuels to more
sustainable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and hydro.
•A revised CDM could create more opportunities for participation of Caribbean
countries.
•Caribbean countries that have completed their Technology Needs Assessments can
seek funding for the transfer of clean technologies to their countries.
•Countries such as Guyana that have forests can benefit from positive incentive to
maintain their forests or to re-plant of plant new trees that will remove and sequester
carbon dioxide over an extended period of time.
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The three carbon trading mechanisms developed under the Kyoto Protocol.
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A brief description of the CDM taken from the document “CDM 2008 in Brief”
produced by the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, (UNFCCC)
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The criteria for the participation of Developing Countries in the Clean Development
Mechanism.
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A brief description of the project cycle follows with the planning phase described by
this slide.
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The project cycle other phase are described these include the preparation of the
project design document, approval from the designated national authority and the
process of validation and registration.
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The description of the project cycle continues with explanations of monitoring,
verification and certification, issuance and distribution of certified emission
reductions (CERs).
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The different types of projects and their percentage of the total amount are describes
in this slide.
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Continuation of the different types of project activities under the Clean Development
Mechanism.
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The project activity Programmes of Activities is described in this slide.
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Graph showing the distribution of registered project activities by sectors as of June 1,
2009.
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A more detailed pie chart of the distribution of project activities by scope.
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The status of the Clean Development Mechanism project activities as of June 1, 2009
and the expected certified emissions reductions that these will generate.
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Regional distribution of registered project activities is discuss with this slide which
shows the largest number of projects in China, India and Brazil and very few in Africa,
Least developed Countries and small island developing states.
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This slide explains in greater details how the distribution is skewed in terms of
developing countries that have not hosted a Clean Development project activity
,(over 60% of the developing countries), how many have not established Designated
National Authorities (a perquisite for participation in the Clean Development
Mechanism). It also shows some of the countries with few projects, that 60% of the
certified emissions reduction come from one country (China) , 30% of the total
volume is from the destruction of HFC, an artificially produced gas and only 6% are
from projects in the land use, land use change and forestry category.
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Institutional strength is a part of the problem as many countries have no established
Designated National Authority and even fewer countries have actual project or
project exposure.
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These are some of the factors that influence regional distribution.
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These are the issues relating to variable potential across regions or countries.
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These are the issues relating to capacity as they affect a countries ability to
participate in the Clean Development Mechanism.
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This is an example of how the contrasting capacity although addressed did not have
the same results.
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This examine the role of underlying finance and its influence on the process.
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This give some possible options that if implemented could result in greater
participation by all regions.
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These are the areas that the Caribbean Development Bank can focus on if they decide
to be involve in supporting greater participation of the Caribbean countries in the
Clean Development Mechanism.
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This slide provides information on the Adaptation Fund funded from a 2% of the
share of proceeds of each registered CDM project activity. It explains the role that the
CDB can undertake in funding concrete adaptation projects in the region.
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