E3G and World Resources Institute (WRI) hosted a side event at the UNFCCC Climate Change talks in Bonn, Germany on 3 June 2009 from 19:30 to 21:00.
The <a href="http://unfccc2.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/090601_SB30_Bonn/templ/ply_page.php?id_k>event, entitled Measurable, Reportable and Verifiable Institutions & Issues: matching support and actions with examples from China, featured presentations by Hilary McMahon, Senior Associate from WRI and Teng Fei from the Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy at Tsinghua University in China.
The event was chaired by Jennifer Morgan of E3G and panelists included:
Zou Ji – School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University
Juergen Lefevere – Policy Coordinator, International Climate Negotiations, European Commission
Jane Ellis – Principle Analyst, Climate Change OECD
Tailored Approach: Examples from China
In considering how a tailored approach to individual country actions would work under a global agreement, it is worth assessing examples of countries policies and measures that can be measured, reported and verified and examining how countries themselves currently undertake mitigation policies and measures. China provides a rich set of examples of such policies due to its active efforts to cut its growth in energy use and its dependence on fossil fuels. Although many of these policies are new or only reaching the implementation stage, there are others that already have MRV structures associated with them.
Based on two recent publications: Mitigation Actions in China: Measurement, Reporting and Verification, published jointly with WRI and Tsinghua University on behalf of E3G (available to download above), and Keeping Track: National Positions and Design Elements of an MRV Framework, a WRI Working Paper, the presentations provided an overview of MRV issues generally as well as new research outlining the systems China has in place to report and verify its current domestic actions, in order to provide lessons for an international system under a post-2012 climate regime.
Discussion from the audience and panelists focused on the lessons learned from the research combined with an assessment of current Party submissions on these topics and implications for the two tracks of the MRV debate; MRV of developing country enhanced actions, and MRV of developed country finance, technology and capacity building support.
Key topics under discussion included the following:
- The purpose of MRV as a tool for implementation of Party commitments and as a tool to assess the implementation of a post-2012 Agreement;
- What should be MRV’d under a post-2012 climate regime: e.g. national communications; Technology Needs Assessments; low carbon development plans; EGTT performance indicators; Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions; and other systems already in place;
- The effectiveness of an MRV system on policies and measures and overall effectiveness of the policies; and
- The relevance for the current UNFCCC negotiations process including: the aim of the MRV system; the timeframe; quantification; institutional arrangements including matching support with actions; and building trust.
A video recording of the event and the presentations are available on the UNFCCC website; IISD’s Reporting Service also provides a brief summary.
*Photo Copyright to IISD/Markus Staas.
