Capacity for Climate in Central and Eastern Europe
WRI-REC partnership
Background
In December 1997, the third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Kyoto, Japan to negotiate limits to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Two main features of the Kyoto Protocol, once it is ratified and enters into force, are:
- legally binding commitments by Annex I countries to collectively reduce GHG emissions by more than 5 percent below 1990 levels, by 2008-2012;
- a set of mechanisms - including emissions trading, joint implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism - to help countries achieve their commitments at the lowest possible cost.
The GHG limitation and reduction targets for Annex I Central and Eastern European (CEE) are 8 percent, excepting Hungary and Poland where the target is 6 percent. While the Kyoto Protocol offers the potential for reaping substantial benefits - including the possibility of further cost-effective GHG reductions and potential economic, environmental and financial benefits resulting from the implementation of the flexibility mechanisms - signature and ratification also signal a commitment to implement and comply with the provisions of the treaty. In some instances, this will require that Parties:
- change domestic laws;
- implement new laws or enact other measures to ensure that the letter and spirit of the agreement are followed.
A set of monitoring, reporting and review functions will need to be performed in order to verify that parties are implementing and complying with the treaty's provisions. These include preparing national GHG inventories, reporting and accounting for the assigned reduction. The importance of these functions further extends to participation in the Kyoto mechanisms. Discussions of emissions trading and joint implementation typically stress the fundamental role of compliance systems, and the crucial importance of establishing procedures and responses for non-compliance.
Objective
The WRI-REC Partnership will focus on assisting countries from CEE in identifying policies and measures to comply with commitments and respond to the opportunities created by the framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
Strategy
We will:
- strengthen non-governmental organisation (NGO) and private sector capacity for analysis and contribution to the climate debate and, in so doing, improve the credibility of national communications in CEE;
- promote dialogue between governments, businesses and NGOs within the countries;
- inform and influence discussions at the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC;
- facilitate information exchange at the regional level as well as between East and West;
- increase understanding of the institutional pre-requisites for the implementation of flexibility mechanisms.
Approach
Project activities include:
- contracting with one partner NGO in each of five selected countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland and Slovenia);
- developing a series of workshops and seminars for government officials and the business community to share knowledge and promote dialogue;
- preparing, through the partner NGOs, comprehensive case-studies based on the current situation within focus countries;
- developing, with partner NGOs, an outreach strategy;
- forming an Advisory Committee of decision-makers - from the CEE, EU, US and Japan to promote knowledge sharing and to offer input to the project by identifying areas and activities which would be of interest for our partner countries in order to comply with the commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
Our Partners
Bulgaria - EnEffect
Czech Republic - Energy Efficiency Program
Estonia - Stockholm Environmental Institute
Poland - Institute for Sustainable Development
Slovenia - Slovene E Forum
Contact Information
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
ZSUZSA IVANYI
Project manager
Tel: (36-26) 504-000
Fax: (36-26) 311-294
E-mail: izsuzsa@rec.org
World Resource Institute
ELENA PETKOVA
Project manager
Tel: (1-202) 729-7767
Fax: (1-202) 729-7610
E-mail: elenap@wri.org
REC * PROGRAMS * SOFIA INITIATIVES * ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS * GREEN BUDGET
