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Developing Country Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mitigation Analysis
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To read the summary of CCAP's report on Developing Country Unilateral Actions, click here. To read the full report, click here.
CCAP Showcases Climate Change Actions in Developing Countries and European Union on the Eve of Major Economies Meeting
Sept. 26, 2007 – Ministers from developing nations and the European Union today said they are developing and implementing domestic laws and policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The environmental ministers from Brazil, China, Mexico and Portugal — who are in Washington, D.C. for a White House major economies meeting to discuss a framework that would contribute to a global agreement post-2012 to reduce GHG emissions — highlighted these policies at a press breakfast today at the National Press Club. For more information on these policies, please see our press release.
CCAP Says China is Doing More than You Think to Reduce Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions
CCAP’s Developing Country Program has revealed that China is taking significant action to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and these efforts equal or surpass currently proposed U.S. climate policy through 2010 . CCAP’s findings on China’s efforts were featured recently on NPR’s All Things Considered and in The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Energy Daily. CCAP’s work reveals how China’s reforms have slowed the emissions growth in specific high-GHG emitting sectors. CCAP is continuing its work with the Chinese government to identify additional steps they can take – steps that other countries, including the U.S. should follow.
Read more about CCAP's work with China...
Link to NPR story
Link to Christian Science Monitor story
Link to Wall Street Journal story
Other Developing Country Presentations and Publications:
CCAP presented the results of the project and discussed other key developing country-related climate change policy issues at CCAP’s Future Actions Dialogue meeting in London, England, from July 2-5. To view and download a list of presentations and publications from the meeting , click here.
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CCAP's Developing Country Project Presented to Ministers and Heads of Delegation at the Nairobi Breakfast event
The Center For Clean Air Policy (CCAP) presented new data on significant unilateral emissions reductions actions taken by developing countries and opportunities for further reductions at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Nairobi November 6 through November 17. The report entitled: "Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Brazil, China and India: Scenarios and Opportunities through 2025," summarizes the results of a two-year, detailed analysis of the costs and implications of policies to reduce GHG emissions in the three developing countries. CCAP worked closely with policymakers and researchers—both within and outside the governments of Brazil, China and India—to gather the data and complete the analysis.
CCAP also presented the data on developing countries’ unilateral emission reduction efforts to audiences at the US Senate on December 14, 2006, and at the “10th Annual Electric Utilities Environmental Conference and Expo on Clean Air, Mercury, Global Warming and Renewable Energy" in Tucson, Arizona on January 22. To view and download the presentation, click here.
Release of CCAP's Developing Countries
Report at the Nairobi Conference: Delegate Reactions
“The results of this project and our continued work with CCAP to find win-win opportunities for climate policy in China will be very important in helping us move forward. The more developed countries do, the more developing countries will follow.”
Lu Xuedu, deputy director general of China’s Office of Global Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Science and Technology
“We can craft a new format for international policy based on the results of this study.”
Mutsuyoshi Nishimura, Japan ’s special envoy for climate change, ambassador for global environment.
“The CCAP report is really important in shaping international thinking on the most effective structure for a post-2012 climate policy.”
Henry Derwent, director of climate, energy and environmental risk, UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
“We welcome this report, it shows that developing countries are taking action driven by wider sustainable development goals. In this way, they are reducing GHG emissions and doing so without reducing growth.”
EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas in prepared remarks shared at the 11/16/07 morning briefing to delegates.
United Kingdom's The Guardian: (11/15/06)
"In a report issued on Monday, the Centre for Clean Air Policy (CCAP), a US thinktank, backed up Mr Annan's comments by describing as a 'myth' the view that developing countries are doing little to slow greenhouse gas emissions. Ned Helme, the president of CCAP, said that Brazil and China had taken steps to cut emissions by the same amount as the US by 2010."
Link to story
China's China Daily: (11/15/06)
"Our analysis shows the actions China and Brazil are taking will result in emissions cuts to levels comparable to what the United States is projected to do under its voluntary target by 2010, also equal to nearly 40 per cent of what the EU will do by 2010,' said Ned Helme, president of the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP), the US-based think-tank that produced the report.
Chinese officials heralded the report's findings."
Link to story
Argus Air Daily (11/17/06)
"Developing countries are already taking action to mitigate greenhouse gases comparable with what the US is doing, according to a new study released this week by think-tank Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP). Brazil and China will cut GHG emissions by 210 million metric tones (mt) in 2010, while the US’ voluntary target should average 183 million mt/yr reductions, CCAP said."
Link to story
Point Carbon (11/16/06)
"Developing countries, which are not subject to binding emissions reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol, are making emissions reduction efforts comparable to industrialised countries with binding obligations, according to a study released yesterday at the UN climate summit in Nairobi."
Background
At the annual UNFCCC meeting in Montreal in November 2005, Parties agreed to begin formal discussions under both the Kyoto Protocol and UNFCCC on the future international climate policy structure for the post-2012 period. One of the key elements of this discussion will be what role developing countries will play in the international response to climate change. In many developing countries, discussions about concrete policy steps to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are already underway, often motivated by concerns about energy security, air quality, and economic development. In addition to the international efforts, actions undertaken and under consideration by developing countries are presenting another important path to achieving reductions in global GHG emissions, through unilateral national efforts independent of the formal international process to address climate change. This report is intended as a contribution to these ongoing international and domestic dialogues.
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation In Brazil, China and India: Scenarios And Opportunities Through 2025, summarizes the results of the first phase of the CCAP’s “Developing Country Project.” A key goal of the project is to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to take action to reduce greenhouse gases and to prepare for and participate in negotiations on the future structure of climate policy under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. The project also will assist developing country economies by identifying specific “win-win” opportunities where they can reap substantial economic and other development-related benefits through cost-effective actions that will also reduce GHG emissions.
Since the inception of the Developing Country Project in February 2005, CCAP has worked with in-country teams in Brazil, China, India and Mexico to identify technologies and approaches that are feasible and cost-effective in reducing GHG emissions and in providing co-benefits (e.g., air quality, energy security, biodiversity protection). By engaging in-country teams, key government officials and stakeholders, CCAP is building each nation’s capacity to continue this type of analysis following the end of the project. The partners in the research are: the Center for Integrated Studies on Climate Change and the Environment (Centro Clima) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and several independent researchers in Brazil; The Institute for Environmental Systems Analysis at Tsinghua University of China; The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India; and the Centro Mario Molina of Mexico. A major component of the project is a series of in-country workshops with government officials at the national and sub-national levels, industry and private sector stakeholders, and representatives from NGOs, universities and other organizations to inform and obtain input and support from a broad domestic constituency. The project also links closely with CCAP’s Future Actions Dialogue, where researchers from the in-country teams present results of their respective analyses to inform the international discussions and obtain feedback from senior climate negotiators.
This report—and the companion reports prepared by the teams for each country—evaluate the emissions trends and reduction opportunities in key sectors of the economies of these countries, and suggest some preliminary insights on politically practical approaches for achieving these reductions. In the next phase of the project, CCAP will utilize these results to develop useful domestic and international strategies that can be employed to implement the most promising mitigation options in each country. This will include macroeconomic analysis of the implications of proposed post-2012 international climate architectures for domestic GHG mitigation, and a comprehensive and more in-depth analysis of domestic implementation of individual mitigation options: the key actors involved, the potential barriers (financial, technical, etc.) and the co-benefits. The key result of the project will be the development of a suite of potential policies and recommendations for implementation of each mitigation option. The implementation analysis is currently underway, and CCAP and its in-country partners expect to complete it in 2008.
The Developing Country Project builds and expands upon CCAP’s previous work in Latin America, which can be accessed through the following links:
For more information on the Chile, Brazil and Caribbean projects, click here.
For results from the work in Mexico, click here.
Developing Country Meetings in China, India, and Brazil
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Jake Schmidt, International Program Manager, and Matthew Ogonowski, Senior Policy Analyst, from CCAP were in Beijing, China (26-28 March) and Delhi, India (30-31 March) in 2006 for workshops with key government, industry, academic, and NGO representatives to present the preliminary results of the greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation analysis in these countries. Ned Helme, President, and Mark Houdashelt, Policy Analyst, attended a similar workshop in Brasilia, Brazil (10-11 April) for key Brazilian policymakers.
These workshops are an integral component of the Developing Country project, and serve as an important forum to present the results of this project, receive feedback from key policymakers, and provide guidance to them in their deliberations on GHG mitigation activities. A workshop to present the results of the emissions mitigation analysis for Mexico will be held in early 2007 in Mexico City. In addition, as the second phase of the project (the implementation analysis) progresses, CCAP will hold a second round of workshops for in-country stakeholders in Brazil, China and India in summer and fall 2007.
CCAP Joins Mexico on Analysis of GHG Emissions Projections
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In February 2006, CCAP initiated the Mexican component of its Developing Country Project. In this project, CCAP is consulting closely with government officials in key ministries and with its in-country research partner, the Centro Mario Molina, founded by Mario J. Molina, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in detailing the threat to the Earth's ozone layer posed by emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
In 2006, CCAP and the Centro Mario Molina conducted an analysis of GHG emission projections through 2020 and emissions mitigation options, reduction potentials and costs for key sectors of the Mexican economy, including electricity, oil and gas production, oil refining, natural gas distribution, cement, and transportation. The team will also analyze potential co-benefits from the mitigation options and will develop a suite of domestic policy approaches for implementing the most promising options. The Mexico GHG mitigation analysis will build upon and add to the significant body of knowledge already gained from the project's results in Brazil, China and India. The work will include in-country analysis, workshops in Mexico and Latin America, and presentation of results at forthcoming meetings of CCAP's Future Actions Dialogue. In August 2006, CCAP attended the Public Audience in Mexico at which the preliminary version of Mexico’s National Climate Action Strategy (Estrategia Nacional de Acción Climática, or ENAC) was announced. A key component of the ENAC was an analysis of emission trends, mitigation opportunities and costs in the electricity, petroleum and other energy-intensive industrial sectors in Mexico, and the work done by the Centro Mario Molina as part of CCAP’s Developing Country Project was used extensively in the plan’s development. The technical analysis of GHG mitigation options in all of the key sectors (see above) is currently being completed, these results will be presented at a domestic workshop in Mexico City in late summer or early fall of 2007 and are expected to be published in late 2007. In addition, the Centro Mario Molina team is using Mexico as a case study for the implementation of CCAP’s sectoral approach in the electricity, cement and oil refining sectors. This analysis will provide important insights into the on-the-ground implementation of such an approach in any post-2012 climate change regime.
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