World Student Community for Sustainable Development

by Ai Hiramatsu

At the Third Conference Of Parties (COP3) held in Kyoto in December 1997, the Kyoto protocol was adopted by parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It sets legally binding numerical targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on industrialized countries (Annex I parties). Each country is assigned individual emission limitations or reduction commitments, with the aim of reducing the total GHG emission by at least 5% below the 1990 level during the commitment period from 2008 to 2012.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the flexibility mechanisms outlined in the Kyoto Protocol. Under the CDM, industrialized countries implement GHG mitigation projects in developing countries (Non-Annex I countries) so that they achieve Certified Emission Reduction (CER) according to the emission reduction accomplished in the projects. They can count CERs as complementary GHG emission reduction achievements to fulfill their own target. Since such projects in developing countries cost less than domestic measures, industrialized countries can succeed in reducing GHG emission more cost-effectively. Developing countries can use the CDM as a chance to obtain financial resources and state-of-the-art technology.

Since developing countries are currently not bound by any commitments, total emission quotas in the world increase when CERs are issued and transferred to the industrialized countries. Therefore, the CDM requires stricter investigation than other flexibility mechanisms – Joint Implementation (JI) or Emission Trading (ET) – to validate and verify the projects, and to prevent non-environmentally additional, ineffective projects (in which nothing environmentally novel is included) being implemented as CDMs.

CDM projects must follow key requirements and procedures. “Sustainability†is included in them.

- Sustainability: A project must contribute to sustainable development in a developing country. The decision on sustainability of the project ultimately depends on the developing country.

“Sustainability†is sometimes represented by “Additionality†, which means that GHG emission reduction achieved by a project must be sufficiently additional, compared to an estimation of GHG emission in the absence of the project.

A large amount of GHGs are emitted directly and indirectly through urban activities. Since there will be significant population growth and increases of energy consumption per capita in urban areas of developing countries, GHG emission will increase. CDM projects are expected to promote the reduction of such GHG emission. Until now, most of the current CDM projects are focused on individual unit technology such as improving the efficiency of a steel plant, thermal power plant or oil refinery, replacing coal with natural gas as a fuel for power generation, and introducing renewable energy. This type of project can be implemented rather easily in the early stage. Considering the growth of urban areas in developing countries, however, the introduction of integrated management of advanced technologies into urban systems will be important and should have greater potential for the reduction of GHG emissions. There are various types of projects which can effect the reduction of GHG emissions in urban systems. Measures taken in CDM projects for developing countries should be new technologies, which is not always very innovative for industrialized countries. The potential projects should focus on energy supply, energy conservation, transportation systems, solid waste management, heat environment and water management.

There are various alternative technologies in urban systems which have different impacts on environment. GHG emission reduction (and also additionality) varies according to not only the technology but also the characteristics of the city. The distinctive features, for example, policy and plan as well as the currently employed technology in the target area, influenced the GHG emission reduction considerably, because the prediction of the future is strongly required for CDM projects. Therefore, considering the policies and future plans of the city as well as its current condition is important.

Reducing GHG emissions is the top priority of the CDM. When considering from the aspect of “Sustainability†, however, there are also other items that should be evaluated, such as other environmental impact, socioeconomic impact, and adequate technology transfer (including capacity building).

While the CDM can trigger the improvement of the cities in developing countries, there remain some issues to be discussed. The discussion above is a fundamental and important consideration for decision-makers in implementing CDM projects in developing countries, particularly when the projects are considered not only as a unit technology project itself but also as a part of urban systems comprising sustainable urban planning.