Head of DNV Climate Change urges COP17 negotiators to continue CDM scheme.
UN talks on climate change are underway in Durban South Africa amid divisions on how to slow the carbon juggernaut.
Topping the agenda is the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the only global pact with targets curbing greenhouse gas emissions, whose first round of pledges expires at the end of 2012. There have been concerns that the possible lapsing of the protocol could remove the legal foundations for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other carbon trading schemes.
Commenting on developments, Stein B. Jensen, head of DNV Climate Change and Environmental Services said that an agreement on the future of the CDM was critical to the future health of the carbon market.
“We need to give confidence to the markets,” he said. “We need a signal that the mechanisms will continue. It’s important not to kill the CDM in Durban because over the past 10 years, CDM private and public stakeholders have built a unique, global mechanism that works. Now is the time to tap into the experience gained implementing the mechanism and put it to work in a revived CDM.”
Talks progressing in the right direction
Jensen’s comments come at a time when the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol is moving within reach at the UN climate talks in Durban, according to UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.
Also, the latest draft proposals to reform the CDM have been welcomed by project developers. Released on Monday, the draft text has 50 new proposals in it from 20 different countries according to the IETA Daily Durban Updates. Ministers are also reviewing the inclusion of CCS (Carbon Capture & Storage) in the CDM during the ongoing high-level segment talks and International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) continues to point out the practical and legal reasons for continuation of the CDM and has shared it with all negotiators who are pushing for its continuance.
Speaking at the IETA session titled ‘Looking at NAMA MRV developments and possible futures’, Bente Pretlove, Senior Principal Advisor at DNV, said CDM still has an important role to play and provides important lessons for the design of new market mechanisms.
New opportunities
“New market mechanisms and NAMAs (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Activities) supported by the private sector offer an important potential set of new opportunities…assurance must be provided to stakeholders that low-carbon development projects and programs meet clear standards, that their implementation is carefully monitored, that progress is reported and that results are verified (MRV). Indeed, MRV frameworks are key in ensuring financial accountability and in evaluating the performance of low carbon development initiatives,” said Pretlove.
At another IETA session Luc Larmuseau, global business development director of DNV’s climate change services, addressed the subject ‘verifying in a world of disparate accreditation models.’
The session attempted to make sense out of the “confusing world of verifier accreditation.”
Increasing complexity
“There’s fragmentation in the market, with many schemes being used by different buyers in different countries. Simplification isn’t easy but there is a form of standardisation going on albeit slowly. Trust is so fundamental in this business and it needs to be on national, market and sector levels,” stressed Larmuseau.
“With the new mechanisms, NAMAs coming into play, it’s going to become increasingly more complex and we need to ensure that there is sufficient knowledge in all levels of society to tackle the problems ranging from policy to projects, in order to best meet the needs of the people of the country,” said Larmuseau and added, “For DNV, improving capacity is an on-going process…ensuring it is designed to meet the requirements of stakeholders that have very different needs and capabilities today – and tomorrow.”
Luc Larmuseau, global business development director of DNV’s climate change services and Bente Pretlove, senior principal advisor, seen here at the IETA side event at COP17 in Durban.