Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ)

AIJ amounts to a learning-by-doing pilot program of Joint Implementation (JI).

AIJ and JI share at least three similarities:

• Purpose. Both AIJ and JI intend to mobilize pools of largely private capital that invest in international projects where it is most cost-effective to do so.

• Structure. Like JI, AIJ is a project-based mechanism.

• Components. AIJ and JI have the following common elements:
  • Additionality refers to whether the GHG emission reduction achieved by a JI/AIJ project (or sequestrations) constitute new or additional reductions, which would not have otherwise occurred without the investment.
  • A baseline refers to an estimation of what a facility's GHG emissions would have been without the AIJ or JI project.

AIJ and JI have at least three major differences:

• Starting dates. AIJ started in 1995 and continues to operate. Unless the Parties agree to push the date forward, JI will start in 2007.

• Eligibility requirements. AIJ can occur between firms of any two countries that are Parties to the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). JI is more restrictive, because it will involve entities located only in industrialized countries -- namely, those the UNFCCC grouped under Annex I.

• Crediting policies. AIJ does not allow countries to use project credits of emission reductions to offset their legal obligations undertaken at Kyoto. In contrast, the JI projects will generate "emission reduction units" (ERUs) that investors can use to satisfy their emissions limits. It is conceivable that upcoming negotiations might allow countries to submit AIJ projects through formal JI procedures and thereby generate ERUs.