Emissions Trading and Project Based Mechanisms: Synergies between Emerging Regimes

CATEP Workshop - Organised by FIELD, UNEP and CEU, with financial support from the European Commission (7 and 8 February 2003, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary)

Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Marrakesh Accords in 2001, greenhouse gas emissions trading schemes have developed both at the domestic and regional level. Most prominent are the domestic schemes in Denmark and the UK, and the proposal for an EU greenhouse gas emission allowance trading Directive. With the Marrakesh Accords the framework for the implementation of international emissions trading and the project-based mechanisms JI and CDM is now in place. The new and emerging frameworks for the implementation of GHG emissions trading at the domestic, regional and international level call for an exploration of synergies between these regimes. This workshop attempts to explore important synergies, possibilities for linking instruments and possible conflicts in four workshop themes:

• What role can project-based activities play in domestic and regional trading regimes?
• How can coherent accounting and institution building be ensured?
• (How) can different domestic, regional and international trading regimes be linked?
• What lessons can be learned from GHG emissions trading for other environmental issues?

Draft Agenda

DAY 1: 7 February 2003

From 8:30 a.m.: Workshop Registration

Introductory Session (09:00 a.m - 10 a.m., CEU Auditorium)

Chair of the session: Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, CEU

• Welcome (Diana Ürge-Vorsatz on behalf of CEU, FIELD and UNEP)
• Formal Opening of the Workshop (Yehuda Elkana, CEU Rector)
• Aim of the workshop and introduction of the four workshop themes (Frank Convery, Workshop Chair)

Session 1: Project-based activities in domestic and regional trading regimes (10 a.m. - 1 p.m.)

Chair of the session: Stephen Bygrave, OECD

• EU enlargement, EU emissions trading and the role for JI in accession countries (Jan Pretel, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Prague)
• Quality Standards for CDM and JI projects under domestic and regional trading regimes (Mark Kenber, WWF International)
• Linking project based mechanisms and EU emissions trading (Matthieu Wemäere, European Commission)
• Discussion (with 11:00 - 11:30 Break)

1-2 p.m. Lunch

Session 2: Ensuring coherent accounting and institution building (2 - 4.30 p.m.)

Chair of the session: Matthieu Wemäere, European Commission

• Accounting for Indirect and Direct Emissions under Emissions Trading (John Scowcroft, Eurelectric and Mike Wrigglesworth)
• Kyoto Protocol accounting and domestic and regional trading regimes (Molly Anderson, VERTIC)
• Existing and Emerging Approaches to GHG Accounting at Project- and Corporate-Level (Aleg Cherp, Central European University, Co-chair of the AHG 4 (Cross-cutting issues), WG 5 (Climate Change), ISO TC 207 (Environmental Management)
• The challenge of institution building for emissions trading in candidate countries (Dora Kulauzov, CEU)
• Discussion

DAY 2: 8 February 2003

Session 3: Linking trading regimes (9:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.)

Chair of the session: Jürgen Lefevere, FIELD

• The EU trading regime and emerging domestic regimes in the European Union (Anthony Hobley, Baker & McKenzie)
• Japan and the proposed EU trading regime (Yukari Takamura, Shizuoka University, Japan)
• Canada and the proposed EU trading regime (John Drexhage, IISD)
• Switzerland and the proposed EU trading regime (Andrea Burkhardt, Swiss Agency for Environment, Forests and Landscape)
• Should non-Kyoto Parties be allowed to trade? (Erik Haites, Margaree Consultants)
• Discussion (with 11-11:30 a.m. Break)

1 - 2 p.m. Lunch

Session 4 : GHG emissions trading: expected impacts and lessons for other substances (2:00 - 4:00 p.m)

Chair of the session: Peter Bohm, Stockholm University

• The impact of GHG emissions trading on large energy intensive industrial sectors (Laszlo Szabo, IPTS)
• EU emissions trading and the Nordic electricity market (Morten Prehn Sorensen, ECON)
• Tradable Emissions Permits Law in Chile (Marcela Main Sancha, Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente, Chile)
• A central role for emissions trading as an instrument for regulating industrial emissions in The Netherlands (Chris Dekkers, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Netherlands)

Discussion

Final Session Workshop Chair's summary and final discussions (4:00 - 5:00)

Chair of the session: Frank Convery

Formal End of workshop at 5:00p.m.

Around 90 participants are expected, mainly from the CATEP network, but also experts, policy makers and academics from Annex I countries, economies in transition and developing countries.

Contact person for registration and logistics: Noémi Byrd, Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), +44 (0)20 76377950

Useful Websites: CATEP website, Central European University, FIELD, UNEP Centre, Risø National Laboratory