Evaluation of (non-sink) AIJ projects in developing countries (Ensadec)

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ADOPTION OF SOCIABLE GREEN ENGINEERING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

India is striding ahead to become a world leader in manufacturing of ferrous metals & alloys. Rapid globalization has driven up-gradation to its ultra-modern infra-structure. It has contributed to India’s sustainable industrial growth in auto, infra, mining, petrochemicals, and power sectors. Hence over the decade, its per capita consumption of ferrous products has vastly increased. Existing units of iron and steel manufacturing industries emit the greenhouse gases (GHG) with variable life span with multiple and Global Warming Potential (GWP). These are responsible for the global climate changes. Global Warming & negligence of integrated impact of enviro-scoio-human-economic factors while achieving technological progress has today become the greatest challenge to the human endeavor for its continued and dignified existence on this planet. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which is multistage knowledge process is one of the ways identified under the KYOTO Protocol, for developed countries to offset their carbon emissions, is fast becoming the preferred way.Moreover, KYOTO protocol based market driven generation, registration, valuation of carbon credit and its subsequent trading leads to penalize the polluting and reward the clean industries. Consequently, authors have attempted to create awareness among the ferrous metal manufacturing industries to minimize the hazardous impact of GHG by investing in modernization of various sections, machineries and process of the integrated plants by discussing a few case studies and methodologies adopted to translate controlling carbon emission into a profit churning venture. Implementing alternative, appropriate, innovative, resource conserving, safe & green technology will lead to sustainable development

Climate Change: National and Local Policy Opportunities in China

Climate Change poses a wide range of potentially very severe threats in China. This aggravates the existing vulnerability of China and is one of the big challenges faced by the Chinese government. Adaptation programmes and projects are being developed and implemented at national and local level. As China is engaged in heavy investment in infrastructure development as a consequence of the rapid process of development and urbanization, mainstreaming adaptation into such development process is a priority for China. China has also made positive contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through participations in the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol framework. Although mitigation is not a priority at national or local level, it has been integrated into national and local development plans explicitly. This paper addresses the following questions: What is the policy space for climate change mitigation and adaptation policy at national and local level and what is already being done? The three case studies at local level - Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai – presented here, highlight the local benefits in terms of local pollution of integrating mitigation policies into local development. However, financial constraints usually prevent such a positive policy integration. National policies and international cooperation aiming at bridging the financial gap and promoting technology transfer would help in integrating local pollution control and mitigation efforts in China today.Climate Change, Local Policy, National Policy, Mitigation, Local Pollution

China and East Asian Energy - Prospects and Issues Volume II Part I

This collection of papers in two volumes is the second in a series on China and East Asian Energy, a major project which is an initiative of the East Asia Forum in conjunction with the China Economy and Business Program in the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University (ANU). The first volume was published in April 2007. The research program is directed at understanding the factors influencing Chinas energy markets. It also involves high-level training and capacity building to foster long-term links between policy thinkers in China and Australia. It provides for regular dialogue with participants from the energy and policy sectors in the major markets in East Asia and Australia. The backbone of the dialogue is an annual conference, the location of which has thus far alternated between Beijing and Canberra. The objective is to advance a research agenda that informs and influences the energy policy discussion in China, Australia and the region. This special edition of the Asia Pacific Economic Papers brings together papers presented at the second conference in the series. Due to their number and length, papers from that second conference are published across two volumes of the Asia Pacific Economic Papers. This volume includes the first half of the papers, while the next volume includes the second half. The third conference in the project is scheduled for July 2008.China, Energy, East Asia

CDM: Current status and possibilities for reform

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has seen a spectacular rise of activity since mid-2005 that has led to more than 400 project submissions with a combined estimated emission reduction volume of 570 million t CO2 eq. until the end of the commitment period. Several technologies have been mobilised in a large scale that had not been predicted to play any significant role. However, many observers continue to criticize the CDM Executive Board's handling of the project cycle and the lack of development benefits of CDM projects. Therefore, calls for CDM reform have gained strength. An analysis of the CDM project portfolio shows that Least Developed Countries and Africa have so far been sidelined. However, more small-scale projects have been submitted than expected from theoretical analyses of project cycle transaction cost, maybe due to high CER price expectations and a high share of unilateral projects. While developing country companies have been able to capture almost half of the CDM consultancy market, they have not made an inroad into validation and verification. The concentration of host countries has increased. Development benefits of CDM projects are often limited, especially of the large projects destroying industrial gases. The rejection rate of proposed methodologies remains stubbornly high but consolidation of methodologies simplifies document submissions. The time lag from submission of project documentation to registration has recently been falling. Additionality testing is a key element that also supports the development target of the CDM. --CDM,sustainable development,baselines,additionality,reform

Decarbonizing Growth in Mexico

human development, climate change

The World Bank's prototype carbon fund and China

As the first global carbon fund, the World Bank's Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) aims to catalyze the market for project-based greenhouse gas emission reductions while promoting sustainable development and offering a learning-by-doing opportunity to its stakeholders. Since the inception in 1999, the PCF has engaged in a dialogue with China to get it to sign up as a host country, because the World Bank and other international and bilateral donors expect great potential of the clean development mechanism (CDM) in China and feel the significant need for building CDM capacity in China to enable it to gain more insight into the CDM and increase its capacity to initiate and undertake CDM projects. This paper first discusses why China had hesitated to sign up as a host country of PCF projects until September 2003. Then the paper explains what has led China to endorse the PCF projects. The paper ends with discussions on the implications of the PCF's offering prices for the emerging global carbon market.Carbon prices; Carbon market; China; Prototype Carbon Fund; The World Bank

Lessons from submission and approval process of large-scale energy efficiency CDM methodologies

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) so far has failed to mobilize a substantial amount of energy efficiency projects; less than 4% of credits come from this category. This is due to the fact that only few methodologies for setting of baselines and monitoring project emissions have been approved by the CDM Executive Board (EB). While energy efficiency methodologies have the highest share of methodology submissions, they also suffer from the highest rejection rate. Just 25% of energy efficiency methodology submissions have been approved or consolidated. The applicability of those methodologies is typically narrow and the requirements for monitoring are heavy. Industrial efficiency improvements (e.g. waste heat recovery) are covered relatively well, whereas there are glaring gaps with regards to electricity generation and transmission as well as transport. Demand-side management in households and commercial buildings so far has not been covered either. The EB has not been willing to accept empirical models and performance benchmarks as a basis for baseline emission determination. We see some inconsistencies in decision-making of the Methodology Panel (MP)/ EB particularly with respect to the underlying baseline approach, treatment of rebound effects and endogenous energy efficiency improvement, and additionality assessment of programmatic CDM. A key challenge for energy efficiency projects is determination of additionality; attempts to focus on the barrier analysis only have been rejected by the MP/ EB. A new challenge comes up in the context of programmatic CDM which could give a boost to demand-side activities if the rules are less cumbersome than those for single projects. Here, the application of the additionality test again becomes crucial. --Clean Development Mechanism,Energy efficiency improvement,Baseline and monitoring methodology,Additionality

Technology and carbon mitigation in developing countries: Are cleaner coal technologies a viable option?

human development, climate change