Green light for flexible climate protection

As of 2008 German businesses can achieve emissions reductions abroad and have them credited in Germany for use in EU emissions trading. A group of experts from Canada, Norway, South Africa, Austria, Sudan and Ghana commissioned by the Secretariat of the UN Climate Framework Convention reviewed from 11-16 June 2007 whether Germany meets the authorisation requirements determined by the Kyoto Protocol to use the flexible mechanisms of emissions trading, Joint Implementation, and the Clean Development Mechanism. This group confirmed that Germany does indeed meet the preliminary requirements. At the climate conference scheduled in December 2007 on Bali, the experts will recommend that Germany make use of the flexible mechanisms. Approval by the climate conference is a formality, and Dr. Thomas Holzmann, Vice President of the Federal Environment Agency, applauded the vote by saying, “We can all now be certain that emissions reductions achieved in climate protection projects carried out in developing countries can be credited in Germany.” All states that ratified the Kyoto Protocol will complete similar reviews by the end of this year. Only if states fulfil the criteria can they make use of the Kyoto Protocol’s flexible economic instruments between 2008 and 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol gives industrialised states the option to fulfil their commitments by means of these so-called flexible instruments. They can make use of cheap ways to reduce emissions abroad to more easily achieve their stated national emissions reduction goal. Before the signatory states may make use of these instruments, however, they must meet certain requirements such as providing high-quality inventories of their greenhouse gas emissions. This task is in the hands of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) as the coordinating office for Germany. For the sake of estimation and continuous improvement of the inventories, the expertise available in each country must be compiled in a national system of emissions reporting. National registries must be established to handle and supervise the mechanisms. An international group of experts confirmed that Germany meets the requirements and may therefore make use of the flexible mechanisms in future.

The flexible economic instruments meant to serve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions include emissions trading and two forms of international cooperation: in Joint Implementation (JI) two industrialised states work together on climate protection projects. In the second, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), cooperation exists between one developing or threshold country and an industrialised state. These instruments make it possible to achieve emissions reductions in locations where the most opportune ratio between reduction of greenhouse gases and the associated costs exists.

One important part of the review was to look at regulation of the competencies and cooperation among institutions necessary to provide the data that is needed to estimate and report emissions. According to Article 5.1 of the Kyoto Protocol, this requires expert know-how to produce high-quality inventories. The national system needed to achieve this in Germany has been set up by the Federal Environment Agency. It bundles the efforts of numerous federal institutions, e.g. the Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Agricultural Research Centre, as well as industrial associations and individual companies.

The registry set up for the purpose of monitoring project-related mechanisms also plays a major role. In Germany it is in the hands of the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt). Review by the international group of experts confirmed that operation of the registry is sound.

The third area of focus in the review consists of quality, thoroughness, and accuracy of the reported anthropogenic emissions for each year since 1990. The data reviewed for the Kyoto Protocol base year will serve as an index by which to assess the development of greenhouse gas emissions. It will also determine whether Germany has met its Kyoto commitment to reduce emissions by 21 percent by the year 2012. The experts certified that the submitted emissions inventories are indeed very sophisticated and of high quality.