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RCC St George's embark on developing national capacity in calculating emissions from
electricity generation
To facilitate renewables and energy
efficiency projects through CDM and NAMA, UNFCCC together with the Regional Collaboration Centre St
George’s (RCC St George’s) and UNDP hosted
a series of training workshops on the development of standardized baselines for the power
sector. UNFCCC
colleagues were joined by Vintura Silva and Nigel Edwards from the RCC St
George’s
who coordinated the organization of the workshops.
The workshops were held during 23-31
October 2017 across three Caribbean countries:- Guyana, Suriname and Saint Lucia. The purpose of
these workshops was to increase capacity in the area, develop baselines and collect and process
data.
Participants at the Training workshop in Guyana, 23-24 October 2017
The Caribbean power sector is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuel; therefore, the
introduction of renewables would result in significant emission reductions. Besides achieving
sustainable development (SD) objectives of the countries, the transition to renewables through
carbon/climate finance would also require a robust and credible MRV (measuring, reporting &
verifying) system to report mitigation outcomes objectively and transparently for the region.
Standardized baselines as a benchmark established for the power sector provide critical information
for the assessment of the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation of renewable energy and energy efficiency
activities implemented in the region/countries.
The workshops aimed to facilitate capacity development domestically in the 3 targeted countries
through the delivery of hands-on technical training for DNAs and relevant entities to further cement
their understanding of the procedure and methodological approaches of standardized baselines for the
power sector using real case data. The participants learned how the data collected for the
standardized baselines are also relevant to their national GHG emissions inventory and the
preparation of national communications.
Practical sessions during the training
workshop in Suriname to calculate the Grid Emission factors 26-27 October
2017
Upon request from the participants, they
were introduced to the RETScreen®
tool to demonstrate the application of the standardized
baseline in the broader context of climate change mitigation and climate finance. Also, introductions
were made to the
“Transformational Change Assessment” of projects developed by
The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT).
Participants expressed their appreciation of having
received this technical training and concluded that other sectors within each of their own countries
could also benefit from developing standardized baselines (for example, the waste sector). The
workshops in the three countries successfully achieved their objectives and helped to progress the
standardized baseline development to the advanced stage for the countries. We look forward to
seeing more standardized baselines coming from the Caribbean!
Participants at the Training workshop in St Lucia 30-31 October
2017
Besides these RCC continue to work on Grid Emission Factor Calculations for
Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, St Vincent and Grenadines, Jamaica, St Kitts and
Nieves, as well as renewal of Grid Emission Factor Standardised Baseline for Belize & Waste
sector Standardised Baseline for Dominican Republic. For Belize and St
Vincent and Grenadines, development of transport sector baseline was also initiated with the JCCCP
project.
RCC St George’s
lead to advance the discussion on Carbon Pricing in Caribbean
Most Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for the
Caribbean region express an interest in using collaborative market (international and domestic)
approaches to meet their mitigation targets set forth within NDCs. In perpetration for the
implementation of the commitments in NDCs as well as to arrive at a Caribbean position on the article
6 discussions under the Paris Agreement Caribbean countries requested UNFCCC Regional Collaboration
Center (RCC) in St George’s
(RCC) support in creating awareness on the topic of Carbon pricing and options under the article 6 of
the Paris agreement.
Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC) as
far back as in year 2015 announced the potential for regional approaches to addressing climate change
mitigation including through use of regional carbon markets. Trinidad in its intended Nationally
Determined Contributions (iNDC) refer to the use of the carbon market in development by the Energy
Chamber of Trinidad & Tobago (ECTT). This initiative
“The Caribbean Carbon Pricing Initiative (CCPI)”
( http://energynow.tt/blog/the-caribbean-carbon-pricing-initiative-ccpi
)has expressed interest to create a regional carbon market.
With the support from CI-ACA (collaborative Instruments
for ambitious climate action) initiative RCC St George’s
initiated discussions to identify how to advance these discussions. CI-ACA is an initiative by UNFCCC
together with the RCC host partners, supported by governments of Germany, Norway, Sweden and
Switzerland.
To start off to validate the requirements of the
countries, an informal consultation on establishing a regional initiative to support Caribbean
countries in implementing collaborative climate actions, including through a possible regional carbon
market, was held on the margins of the Bonn Climate Change Conference in May 2017, under the
leadership of Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) in collaboration with UNFCCC Regional
Collaboration Centre (RCC) St Georges.
The key message from this meeting was requirement from
the countries to understand options available to the Caribbean countries, knowledge of developments
in the international arena and the negotiation process on the topic of carbon pricing and
collaborative actions, to evaluate options available to the Caribbean countries to consider.
To deliver this RCC in consultation with CCCCC, Carbon
Finance Solutions (CFS) consortium of consultants working on CCPI, Climate Markets and Investment
Association (CMIA), together with the support of Swedish Energy Agency (SEA), OECS secretariat,
CARICOM secretariat, CPLC of world bank and IETA developed a work programme to address the request of
the countries.
Initially the partners conducted a survey was conducted
with all CARICOM member countries both in written and oral follow ups to identify the needs of the
countries in terms of capacity building on carbon pricing.
Secondly to create awareness on Carbon pricing a
Webinar was organized lead by CMIA on 14 September 2017. The webinar covered the themes of
introduction to Carbon pricing, options available to countries and back ground on existing
international initiatives.
On the 2nd and
3rd of October 2017, RCC in St George’s
together with other partners organized the regional dialogue to assist Caribbean countries in the
development of carbon pricing approaches for implementing their Nationally Determined Contributions
(NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The event was held at Radisson Grenada Beach Resort, Grenada, West
Indies, back-to-back with the event
“Developing a regional proposal for a programme to support the implementation of the
energy aspects in NDCs in the Caribbean”
and climate focal points were jointly invited to both the events.
Opening the dialogue Dr. Randall Waechter, Associate
Director of Research for SGU and Research Grants Coordinator at the Windward Islands Research and
Education Foundation (WINDREF) stated
“This event provides the opportunity for Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)
member states to meet and discuss how to access regional and international support for implementation
of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and other commitments under the Paris
Agreement”.
“However, despite progress, we are cognizant of the challenges we face as small islands.
Due to our small size and small populations the socio-economic stability of small states is being
severely compromised by climate change,”
said Dr. Hugh Sealy, Professor in the Environmental and Occupational Health Track in SGU’s
Department of Public Health and co-facilitator of international discussions of Article 6 of the Paris
Agreement.”
Participants at the Caribbean regional
dialogue on carbon pricing instruments in Grenada, 2 to 3 October
2017
The objective of this two-day event was to continue momentum and further the dialogue around a
carbon market/instrument in the Caribbean region with various state and non-state
stakeholders.
The objectives of the dialogue were to:
-
Raise awareness in the region with regards to the use
and benefits of market instruments;
-
Gain a better understanding of current initiatives
supporting development of market instruments in the Caribbean;
-
Exchange of views on how the elements of a potential
regional approach should be designed to address regional needs that are in line with individual
national plans;
-
Collection of ideas regarding countries'
expectations and planned levels of engagement;
-
Increase the number of countries and high level
stakeholders that are involved in discussions on market instruments;
-
Develop a general understanding of how market
instrument(s) could operate.
The event was also supported by ParlAmericas, California Air Resource Board.
The partners also organised follow up meetings in Trinidad and Tobago (during the
CCCCC and GCCA+ international conference on Climate change for the Caribbean on 9-12 October 2017)
and Mexico City at the Latin America and Caribbean Carbon Forum (18-20 October 2017) to further
impart knowledge on the topic to prepare countries for discussions under Article 6 of the Paris
agreement and possible early action.
Also, at the invitation of Dr. Jennifer Simons Speaker of the National Assembly of
the Republic of Suriname, who was present at the meeting in Grenada, sponsored by ParlAmericas, RCC
St George’s together with UNFCCC presented on the topic of carbon pricing and opportunities of
carbon markets to parliamentarians at a specially organized national assembly session on 25 October
2017.
To summarize the developments CCCCC together with RCC St George’s conducted
a follow up event on Caribbean Carbon Pricing Dialogue at COP 23 on 10 November 2017. Below is a
summary of key discussion points from this series of discussions:
-
To take a concrete decision on
the way forward the political decision makers need to be made aware and informed on different
options;
-
Region has some appetite for the
carbon pricing approaches, but there are large differences in the preparedness of different
countries in the region to initiate action;
-
The technical officers
present at awareness trainings gained a general understanding on the topic of carbon pricing
and options available, however, based on discussions, they realized that they need further support
and knowledge to conduct analysis on the options that will work and are favourable in
national/regional contexts;
-
It was decided during the
discussions that the best way to address this gap is a need for a national/regional level
study to analyse what instruments can work best in the regional/national context and present
options to work on;
-
Importance of these solutions to
be in line with the economic development goals and needs (while at the same time meeting NDCs) was
highlighted as an important aspect;
-
It was also noted, that the
long-term benefits must be understood and highlighted as part of this study. The study will always
have to be framed in terms of jobs and growth and finance how the region will
benefit;
-
In terms of whether a
regional/sub regional or country level approach is preferred, the participants pointed out that
there is a huge difference in terms of emissions in the region taking Trinidad as an example
compared with the smaller east Caribbean countries. However, given the size of economies and
mitigation potential in the countries there was consensus on investigating a regional level
approach to be favourable to achieve sizable emission reductions, economically.
CI-ACA project based on an analysis of countries
readiness, responded to support investigating ways to advance the topic of Carbon pricing in
Dominican Republic and Jamaica as an initial step. In collaboration with
the National Council for Climate Change and Clean Development Mechanism in the Dominican Republic the
first national consultation on the topic of Carbon Pricing on 4 December 2017, with participation of
over 40 participants.
Invited
speaker Dr. Juan Carlos Arredondo Brun, ministry of Environment Mexico, sharing experience from
Mexico on setting price on carbon at the first national consultation on Carbon Pricing for Dominican
Republic, 4 December 2017
Some of the
conclusions of the workshop were the identification of the priority sectors: energy, transport and
agriculture, waste and agriculture. Likewise, the country's experience was shared in the
establishment of a tax on high-capacity motor vehicles, incentives to the Renewable Energy Law, among
others. It was noted that it is important to verify the environment to reduce the risks of price
fluctuations that discourage investments. Establish robust rules, indicators of operation and impacts
that point towards the achievement of strategic objectives. Experiences of participation in Market
Mechanisms were shared, such as in the Clean Development Mechanism, the challenge of price
fluctuations, difficulties in accessing the mechanism for some sectors. It was agreed that based on
the discussion to conduct a study to identify what carbon pricing instruments can be considered
within the national
context.
ZACK 2017 Forum “Access
to finance for implementations of policies and measures for implementation of Nationally Determined
Contributions” Santo Domingo , Dominican republic
5 to 6 December, 2017
Summary of this consultation was presented and discussed with a larger section of the private sector
at ZACK 2017 forum on "Access to finance for Implementations of policies and measures for
implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions" organized together with GIZ in Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic.
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Final report on the nationally determined contributions survey available
now!
Developing Countries Urgently Need Finance to Green Power Sectors
Countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean urgently need
financial support to green their power sectors and thereby implement their national climate
action plans under the  Paris Climate Change Agreement. This is a key finding of a report on the
nationally determined contributions survey conducted by the Nairobi Framework Partnership in
2016.
Read more:
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French
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Download the report >> (6208 kB)
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