Urban Carbon Mechanisms: A Handbook for Local Policy Makers

Transcription

1 Urban Carbon Mechanisms: A Handbook for Local Policy Makers Guillaume DE LABOULAYE Project manager Energy, Sustainable buildings and cities ENERGIES 2050 Sustainable Buildings and Cities: Supporting climate mitigation through resource efficiency Villes et bâtiments durables : l économie des ressources au service de la lutte contre les changements climatiques June Nice

2 Overview 1. Intro to the Handbook 2. The International climate negotiations context 3. Challenges for GHG mitigation in urban context 4. Metrics for measuring GHGs in built environment 5. The importance of MRV 6. Carbon & climate finance mechanisms - overview of key mechanisms, relevance for built environment 7. The way forward

3 1. Intro to the Handbook (1/2) Urban Carbon Mechanisms: A Handbook for Local Policy Makers Published by UNEP in September 2014 ENERGIES 2050 lead author Objectives: 1. Raise awareness of the potential for carbon & climate finance to support GHG mitigation in the built environment 2. Help local authorities to use carbon mechanisms as part of wider climate strategies, to increase energy performance of their district and generate revenue

4 1. Intro to the Handbook (2/2) Structure: Introduction what, for whom and why? Cities and buildings in the climate change context MRV : what is it and why is it important? Climate finance mechanisms Next steps for urban climate finance Best practice case studies are presented throughout the document

5 2. The 2015 international agenda 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - Paris, France - 30 November to 11 December 2015 Objective : find a universal and binding agreement with ambitious targets for the post-2020 climate regime What s new? Rather than trying to obtain an intergovernmental agreement, the Parties are asked to draw up a list of commitments and a positive agenda of measures (INDCs Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) In this context, decentralization and the role of local governments are crucial issues. MRV (Measuring, Reporting, Notifying) is also an important aspect within the INDCs elaboration: a good opportunity to take advantage of climate finance towards low-carbon cities and buildings

6 2. The 2015 international agenda 3 rd International Conference Funding for Development July 2015 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Adoption of the Post 2015 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) September 2015 New-York

7 3. Challenges for urban GHG mitigation buildings Buildings account for 32% of the world energy demand, 24% for the residential sector alone, and 50% of the world's electricity demand (IPCC). GHG emissions associated with buildings were estimated at 9.18GtCO2e in 2010, a fifth of the total emissions (all sectors). These emissions could increase twofold or threefold by 2050, spurred on by rapid demographic and urbanisation rates in developping countries (IPCC). According to IPCC, energy efficiency in buildings is one of the main lever for mitigation; emissions from the building sector could be stabilised at current levels by Energy demand in buildings could be reduced by 25 to 30% at low or negative costs, while savings could reach in total 75% for existing structures and 90% for new buildings.

8 3. Challenges for urban GHG mitigation buildings Buildings are one of the most cost effective and expedient opportunities for GHG mitigation, often with co-benefits But complex mix of buildings, stakeholders and technologies Very local phenomenon (local needs, culture and policy) Data availability is a key challenge Specific obstacles include o Range and distribution of emissions potential among building types o Landlord-tenant dilemma, o Lock-in effect of choices made regarding building components o Transaction costs o Rebound effect We need consistency, transparency and diffusion of GHG data hence SBCI work on the CCM

9 3. Challenges for urban GHG mitigation - cities A key role to play in global climate action: generate 75% of CO 2 emissions Plus an additional 2 billion urban inhabitants expected by 2030, meaning that the equivalent of 7 new cities of 10 millions inhabitants will have to be built every year Decisions made now can have long-lasting impacts on GHG emissions So cities hold significant emissions reduction potential BUT need a prominent place in climate negotiations and access to finance Cities are where the Climate Change battle will be won or lost over the next decades Marco Scuriatti, Senior Operations Officer at the World Bank, 2011

10 3. Challenges for urban GHG mitigation - cities Specific challenges for developing countries, and notably Africa : Africa already gathers more than 50 cities of over a million people, and a quarter of the world s fastest growing cities Urban population will increase threefold by 2050 to reach 1.35 billion (against 455 millions today) 40 thousands additional people per day until Highest growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the building stock may increase by a factor of 4 or 5 in some regions. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, it is estimated that US$45 billion per year of investments in infrastructure will be necessary to support the additional 340 million people expected to live in the region s urban areas over the next 20 years Lomé, Togo. Photo: ENERGIES 2050

11 3. Challenges for urban GHG mitigation - cities Every city is different standardizing mitigation is therefore challenging Complex mix of sectors, building types and stakeholders It is crucial to engage city / municipal governments in national GHG mitigation efforts but there are many barriers to this, as shown in V-NAMA project: o Lack of financial or political incentives o Poor integration with national government o Lack of capacity (both in terms of resources and skills) Given current budget constraints, carbon finance could provide a means to supporting GHG mitigation efforts but for this, we need the tools to measure set the emissions baseline

12 4. Measuring GHGs in the built environment GHG emissions profile can vary widely by city, but the main sources remain buildings, transport, waste, industry and electricity production Each of these holds challenges & opportunities for GHG mitigation but to maximize potential, local actors must be engaged UNEP & Gwangju City 2012: Cities and carbon finance: a feasibility study on an Urban CDM

13 4. Measuring GHGs in built environment City GHG inventories are crucial first step towards accessing carbon & climate finance at this scale but methodologies vary Study by Ibrahim et al 2012 compared four leading inventory approaches found varying options but set of common recommendations e.g. distinguish direct vs. upstream emissions; additional activity data improves transparency and understanding; data quality should be assessed and reported Efforts under way to standardize the approach e.g. GHG Protocol for Community Scale GHG Emissions (GPC) Carbon Cities Climate Registry (cccr) encourage regular reporting At the building level Common Carbon Metric making good progress towards practical, comparable tool and protocol for establishing the baseline informing upcoming International Standard

14 Many initiatives for measuring GHG emissions often tied to a specific city or objectives need a broader, systematic, adaptable, comparable approach So how about a universal sustainable cities approach?

15 5. The importance of MRV Bottom line: MRV is a pre-requisite for participation in carbon finance baseline and emissions reductions must be measured, reported and verified No MRV, no entry! What we cover in the research paper: MRV basics (what is MRV, why is it important, what are the underlying principles) MRV considerations for cities (apply to GHG inventory, available guidance, issues) MRV considerations for buildings (approaches, challenges e.g. data availability) General issues for MRV e.g. Types trade-off between accuracy vs complexity Getty Images

16 6. Carbon & climate finance mechanisms Real heart of the Handbook is an overview of existing and developing carbon & climate finance mechanisms We define and compare carbon finance and climate finance And their potentially complementary role to support policy-based efforts and technology-based activities - realize greater mitigation overall Then we outline the mechanisms with an emphasis on their relevance for the urban context, what they do to address challenges, and their limitations complimented by best practice examples

17 6. Carbon & climate finance mechanisms CDM Outline of CDM, experience gained, tools and methods we can take from it, reforms needed for urban context Large scale Some urban examples, but not well adapted built environment, single technology, too cumbersome for individual buildings Small scale More methodologies being approved that suit built environment, still restrained by validation process, potential for more combinations Bundled small scale Starts to address some limitations of CDM single projects, reduces transaction costs, but very constrained (identical methodologies; dentify all component projects at the start)

18 6. Carbon & climate finance mechanisms CDM - Programme of Activities (PoA) Moves validation burden away from project implementers (Component Project Activities), increased flexibility (can add more as it grows), but still technology-by-technology focus City-wide PoA Momentum has gathered for multi-technology, multisector city scale mechanism. This could be rolled out within 1 city across several sectors or in 1 sector across several cities NAMA Climate finance approach can be policy based very much learning by doing. Linked closely to development objectives city scale means sub-national government involvement NMM Early days. Definition work in progress market readiness activities underway. Urban policy makers to watch with interest but will they be given the chance to influence its design?

19 Case Study - Large scale CDM in the transport sector - TransMilenio bus rapid transit system, Bogotá Context before implementation : various types and capacities of buses ; varying fares high bus flows; congestion; poor levels of service, speed, reliability, comfort and security poorly maintained diesel and gasoline bus fleet = air pollution and noise problems. The TransMilenio integrated bus rapid transit (BRT) system: busways, stations and terminals adapted for large capacity buses, dedicated lanes with fast boarding and ticket services fare integrated operations smaller buses in the outskirt areas of the city centralized system that prevents congestion Bogota, Colombia. Photo: Alejandro Navarro

20 Case Study - Large scale CDM in the transport sector - TransMilenio bus rapid transit system, Bogotá Results: Clean vehicle technologies of the BRT system reduce GHG emissions by 40% safer transportation reduced travel time Public-private partnership implemented in December 2000 public sector responsible for the construction and maintenance of the transportation infrastructure private partner responsible for the bus fleet, ticket system and service management. The project has been registered with the CDM since 2006 and provided the model for the Bus Rapid Transit CDM methodology. Similar projects have since followed in other cities. Further information:

21 7. The way forward Transform knowledge into action get more concrete projects in place learning by doing, demonstrating success, testing the tools and methodologies available Transform constraints into opportunities we know what the barriers are; newer more flexible mechanisms give us the chance to turn these around, to experiment with a multitechnology, multi-sector, city-scale approach so long as the support is there to build capacity and get things off the ground Give cities a prominent place in the negotiation process they are the future, focus on those with rapid population growth rate MRV MRV MRV MRV MRV!

22 Thank you for your attention Guillaume De LABOULAYE Project manager Energy, sustainable buildings and cities ENERGIES Sustainable Buildings and Cities: Supporting climate mitigation through resource efficiency Villes et bâtiments durables : l économie des ressources au service de la lutte contre les changements climatiques June Nice