Energy and Climate Change in Europe & CIS

Capacity Building for Carbon Finance

Carbon Finance Access Barriers:

Entry into the Kyoto Protocol and UNFCCC provides countries of Eastern Europe and the CIS with new opportunities for reducing GHG emission, mobilizing resources for environmentally-friendly technologies and achieving sustainable development objectives. This potential can be realized through participation in the Kyoto Protocol project based mechanisms (i.e. Joint Implementation [JI] and Clean Development Mechanism [CDM]). However, many countries in the Europe and CIS areas have limited to no engagement in carbon finance and the Kyoto Protocol. Various countries lack the institutional structure, such as the DNA, and governmental sectors needed in order to spur carbon finance development. Additionally, due to lack of information and experience in this area, there is a great issue when trying to set up a capacity building project. In order to actualize opportunities produced by the Kyoto Flexible Mechanisms and over come these obstacles, these countries must develop strong national, institutional, technical, and human capacities to be able to identify, develop, approve and implement projects under JI, CDM and other carbon trade schemes effectively; a task that most of the countries in this region have been struggling with.

Objectives:

The overall objective of the project is to assist countries in Eastern Europe and CIS to access carbon financing through building their institutional, human and technical capacities for participation in Kyoto Protocol flexible mechanisms.

Activities:

• Institutional capacity building for Kyoto Protocol implementation, including support to establishment and operationalization of the Designated National Authorities (DNA)
• Raising awareness and building in-country expertise for identification and preparation of viable CDM/JI projects through learning-by-doing capacity development activities
• Promoting intra-regional exchange of experience and lessons learnt on participation in Kyoto Protocol flexible mechanisms and strengthening UNDP internal knowledge and capacities to develop and implement projects in support of the Protocol.

How-to Guide: National Institutional Frameworks for the Kyoto Protocol Flexible Mechanisms in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States
The goal of this how-to guide is to help national climate change policymakers and UNDP country offices understand the requirements and processes for establishing national institutional frameworks for implementing the Kyoto Protocol in Eastern Europe and the CIS. In particular, the guide is designed to assist countries that will be hosting and approving Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) projects in designing the necessary procedures for project review and evaluation, including criteria for assessing a project's contribution to sustainable development.

For more information, please contact:

Marina Olshanskaya  marina.olshanskaya@undp.org

Anna Kaplina  anna.kaplina@undp.org