Kalipada Chatterjee

It took three years after Rio for the Climate Convention to enter into force. It took two more years to design and adopt the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. It seems that the negotiations have slowed down with every meeting and the commitments made by the developed country Parties in Kyoto are being diluted by offering concessions to achieve ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. By far, the biggest winner in Marrakesh was Russia. The Kyoto treaty cannot come into force unless at least 55 country Parties to the Convention that emit 55 percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions during 1990 from the Parties included in Annex I have ratified the Protocol. So far, 40 countries have ratified the Protocol including one developed country (Romania). The Marrakesh Conference was attended by 171 governments and about 4500 participants. COP 8 will be held from 23 October to 1 November 2002 and will be hosted by India.

The Climate Change Convention and Kyoto Protocol

One of the important affirmation recorded in the Marrakesh Accords is their affirmation that it is the responsibility of the Parties to the Convention as well as to the Protocol to protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of human kind on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic condition. Accordingly, it is primarily the responsibility of developed countries to take the lead in combating climate change and adverse effects thereof.

Funding

Another very import Marrakesh accord is the creation of different funds for the implementation of the commitments of the developed countries made under the Convention. These funds are :

The Conference of Parties is to review the reports annually.

As a part of the Marrakesh accord, European Community and its member states, together with Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland made a joint declaration to contribute collectively US $ 401 million annually by 2005, with their level to be reviewed in 2008.

The accord also decided to establish an adaptation fund to finance adaptation projects and programmes in the areas of water resource management, land management, agriculture, health infrastructure development, fragile ecosystems, including mountainous ecosystems and integrated coastal zone management in developing country parties that are Parties to the Protocol.

Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) under the Pilot Phase

The Marrakesh accord decided to continue the pilot phase for AIJ, to provide the developing country Parties opportunity for learning by doing. The geographical distribution of Activities Implemented Jointly however still remains unbalanced despite recent improvements.

Participation in AIJ under the Pilot Phase provides an important opportunity for learning by doing.

Capacity building for developing counties is essential to enable them to participate fully in and to implement effectively their commitment under the UNFCCC and for their effective participation in the Kyoto Protocol process. There is no "one size fits all" formula for capacity building. Capacity building must be country driven, addressing the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and reflecting their national sustainable development strategies, priorities and initiatives. Capacity building is a continuous, progressive and iterative process, where implementation should be on the priorities of developing countries.

One of the areas of capacity building as identified by the COP is Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), preparation of emission baseline, additionality test methodologies, certified project activities, incorporating Sustainable Development Goals and their M&V and certification by OEs.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

The purpose of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is to assist developing country Parties in achieving sustainable development and in contributing to the ultimate objective of the Convention and to assist the developed country Parties in achieving compliance with their commitments made under Article 3 of the Kyoto Protocol (KP). The Marrakesh Accords affirmed that it is the host Party’s prerogative to confirm whether a CDM project activity assists the country in achieving sustainable development, and further emphasized that CDM project activities should lead to the transfer of environmentally safe and sound technologies and know how in addition to the transfer of funds in addition to normal ODA flows to that developing country.

A reliable, Transparent and Conservative Baseline

A reliable, transparent and conservative baseline to assess additionality criteria as defined in paragraph 5 (c) of the Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol which states that emission reduction from each project activity has to be certified by operational entities (OEs) on the basis of reduction in emissions that are additional to any that would occur in the absence of the certified project activity and carbon reductions / carbon avoided through a CDM project activity for accurately calculating the number of units of CERs (viz; 1 unit of CER is one metric tonne of CO2 equivalent).

Symbolizing the transition now being made to an operational Kyoto regime, the conference elected 15 members to the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism. This will ensure a prompt start to the CDM in developing countries to promote sustainable development through CDM project activities that would bring additional foreign investment and clean technologies for reduction or avoidance of carbon emissions.

It was decided that the draft rules and procedures agreed upon during COP 7 will apply until the same is adopted by COP during the eighth session. Further, simplified modalities and procedures will be developed and recommended at its eighth session (COP 8) for small-scale CDM project activities : (i) renewable energy project activities with a maximum output capacity equivalent of upto 15 megawatt (or an appropriate equivalent) (ii) energy efficiency improvement project activities that reduce energy consumption on the supply and/or demand side by up to the equivalent of 15 gigawatthours per year, and (iii) other project activities that both reduce anthropogenic emissions by sources and that directly emit less than 15 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent annually.

LULUCF project activities under the CDM is limited to afforestation and reforestation and during the first commitment period (2008-2012), the total of addition to a Party’s assigned amount resulting from eligible LULUCF project activities under CDM should not exceed one percent of base year emissions (1990) of that Party times five.

Project activity starting as of the year 2000 will be eligible for validation and registration as CDM if submitted for registration before 31st December 2005. If registered, the crediting period for such project activities may start prior to the date of its registration but not earlier than 1st January 2000.

CDM Participation Requirement for Developing Country Parties

Validation is a process of independent evaluation of a project activity by a designated operational entity (OE) against the requirements of the CDM on the basis of the project design document. The project design document includes the following :

A description of the project comprising

Baseline methodology

Application of an approved methodology

Application of a new methodology

Other considerations such as description of how national and / or sectoral policies and circumstances have been taken into account and explanation of how the baseline was established in a transparent and conservative manner.

Calculations

A baseline has to be established by project participants in accordance with provisions for the use of approved and new methodologies in a transparent and conservative manner regarding the choice of approaches, assumptions, methodologies, parameters, data sources, key factors and additionality and taking into account uncertainty.

Additionality

A CDM project activity is additional if anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases by sources are reduced below these that would have occurred in the absence of the registered CDM project activity.

In the case of small-scale CDM project activities, simplified procedures will be developed by the COP / MOP.

Registered Project Activity

Registered Project Activity is the formal acceptance by the Executive Board of a validated project as a CDM project activity. Registration is the pre-requisite for the verification, certification and issuance of the CERs related to that project activity.

A baseline has to be established on a project specific basis taking into account relevant national and / or sectoral policies and circumstances, such as sectoral reform initiatives, local fuel availability, power sector expansion plans and the economic situations in the project sector. The baseline may include a scenario where future anthropogenic emissions by source are projected to rise above current levels, due to the specific circumstances of the host Party.

Approaches that deemed most appropriate in choosing a baseline methodology. These approaches are :

Project participants should select a crediting period for a proposed project activity from one of the following approaches:

Reduction in anthropogenic emission by sources has to be adjusted for leakage. Subsequent to the monitoring and reporting of reductions in anthropogenic emissions, CERs resulting from a CDM project activity during a specified time period is to be calculated by substracting the actual anthropogenic emissions by sources from baseline emissions and adjusting for leakage.

Monitoring

Project participants are required to include as a part of the project design document, a monitoring plan for collection and archiving of all relevant data necessary for estimating or measuring of anthropogenic emissions by sources, for determining the baseline of greenhouse gases within the project boundary during the crediting period, and identification of potential sources of emissions outside the project boundary that are significant and reasonably attributable to the project activity during the crediting period.

Monitoring Plan

Verification is the periodic independent review and export determination by the designated operational entity of the monitored reductions in anthropogenic emissions by sources of greenhouse gases that have occurred as a result of a registered CDM project activity during the verification period.

Certification is the written assurance by the designated operational entity that during a specified period, a project activity achieved the reduction in anthropogenic emissions by sources of greenhouse gases. The designated operational entity contracted by the project participants to perform the verification shall make the monitoring report publicly available, and conduct on-site inspections, as appropriate; that may comprise a review of performance records, interviews with project participants and local stakeholders, collection of measurements, observation of established practices and testing of the accuracy of monitoring equipment.

Compliance Mechanism

One of the most important aspect of the negotiation at Marrakesh was the compliance mechanism.

Environmental Impacts

The following documents need to be sent to the national and international authorities while submitting the project for approval:

Other documents required with the project submissions are :

The conference also adopted the Marrakesh Ministerial Declaration as input into next September’s World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (South Africa). The declaration reaffirmed that economic and social development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing countries. The declaration recognised that the World Summit on Sustainable Development provides an important opportunity for addressing the linkages between climate change and sustainable development, and that in this context, the problems of poverty, land degradation, access to water and food and human health remain the center of the global attention; therefore the synergies between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those countries experiencing Serious Drought and / or Desertification should continue to be explored in order to achieve sustainable development.

At Marrakesh, there was a great expectation that most of the outstanding issues will be resolved so that there can be no further obstacles to the Parties to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to meet the Rio + 10 deadline for entry into force, but the rule book is yet to be developed fully for implementation of this important treaty. It is hoped COP 8 to be hosted by India will try to resolve all the outstanding issues for a successful implementation of the Convention and Protocol.