[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 227 (Friday, November 22, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59480-59481]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-29838]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice 2471]
Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific
Affairs; Evaluation and Assessment of the U.S. Initiative on Joint
Implementation
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Climate Change Action Plan, announced by President
Clinton on October 19, 1993, set forth a series of measures designed to
return U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000
largely through voluntary domestic actions. Recognizing the enormous
potential for cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions in
other countries, the Administration also called for a pilot program--
the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation (USIJI)--to help establish
an empirical basis for considering approaches to joint implementation
internationally and thus help realize the potential of joint
implementation both to combat the threat of global climate change and
to promote sustainable development.
Department of State Public Notice 1918 (58 FR 66057-66059, December
17, 1993) set forth the draft Groundrules for the U.S. Initiative on
Joint Implementation as directed by the President in the U.S. Climate
Change Action Plan, to provide for the operation of a pilot program. In
this notice, interested parties were invited to provide comment on the
draft Groundrules. Following the public comment period, Department of
State Public Notice 2015 (59 FR 28442-28446, June 1, 1994) published
the revised final Groundrules for the United States Initiative on Joint
Implementation, together with a summary of the response to comments on
the draft Groundrules.
USIJI is the first and currently most developed joint
implementation pilot program worldwide. Through fiscal year 1996, USIJI
had received 51 proposals from 23 countries for projects which were
designed to reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gases utilizing a
diverse set of technologies, including renewable, fuel switching,
energy, efficiency, methane recovery, and land-use related
technologies. Of these, the eight-member federal agency Evaluation
Panel has approved 15 projects representing a diverse set of innovative
technologies and practices in six countries, including developing
renewable energy sources such as solar, biomass, and hydroelectric, and
land-use change projects leading to better forest management,
reforestation, and afforestation. Project developers estimate that
these projects will cumulatively reduce nearly 30 million metric tons
of carbon equivalent. Presently, USIJI activities focus on the
expansion of the geographic and technological diversity of its project
portfolio to reinforce further to the international community that
joint implementation projects can produce real, measurable greenhouse
gas reductions that provide global environmental benefits while
providing economic, social, and development benefits to the project
participants in both the host country and the United States.
As required by Section II of the Groundrules, an assessment of the
program has been initiated, including consideration of the criteria
with which a project must comply to be accepted into the U.S.
Initiative on Joint Implementation. In support of this assessment,
interested parties are invited to provide their comments on any aspect
of the pilot program, e.g., suggestions to improve certain elements of
the program, identification of those elements of the program which
parties have been found to be of value, and, areas which should
possibly be strengthened. Comments will be made available to the
public.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Written comments on any aspect of the pilot program,
including the criteria, are invited. Comments should be submitted to
the Department of State no later than January 24, 1997. Comments or
questions should be directed to: Mr. Daniel A. Reifsnyder, Director,
Office of Global Change, OES/EGC, Room 4330, Department of State, 2201
C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20520-7818, (202) 649-4069, facsimile
(202) 647-0191. Comments may also be submitted via electronic mail
using the following address: csmt@igc.apc.org.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For the convenience of the reader, the final
Groundrules as published in the Federal Register on June 1, 1994, are
reprinted below.
Groundrules
The following describes the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation
(USIJI), which shall be established as a pilot program.
Section I--Purpose
The purpose of the pilot program shall be to:
(1) Encourage the rapid development and implementation of
cooperative, mutually voluntary, cost-effective projects between U.S.
and foreign partners aimed at reducing or sequestering emissions of
greenhouse gases, particularly projects promoting technology
cooperation with and sustainable development in developing countries
and countries with economies in transition to market economies;
(2) Promote a broad range of cooperative, mutually voluntary
projects to test and evaluate methodologies for measuring, tracking and
verifying costs and benefits;
(3) Establish an empirical basis to contribute to the formulation
of international criteria for joint implementation;
(4) Encourage private sector investment and innovation in the
development and dissemination of technologies for reducing or
sequestering emissions of greenhouse gases; and
(5) Encourage participating countries to adopt more complete
climate action programs, including national inventories, baselines,
policies and measures, and appropriate specific commitments.
Section II--Evaluation and Reassessment of Pilot Program
The pilot program shall be evaluated and reassessed within two
years of its inception or within six months of adoption of
international criteria for joint implementation by the Conference of
the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, whichever is earlier.
Section III--Eligible Participants
A. Domestic.
(1) Any U.S. citizen or resident alien;
(2) Any company, organization or entity incorporated under or
recognized by the laws of the United States, or group thereof; or
(3) Any U.S. federal, state or local government entity.
[[Page 59481]]
B. Foreign.
(1) Any country that has signed, ratified or acceded to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
(2) Any citizen or resident alien of a country identified in B(1)
of this section;
(3) Any company, organization or entity incorporated under or
recognized by the laws of a country identified in B(1) of this section,
or group thereof; or
(4) Any national, provincial, state, or local government entity of
a country identified in B(1) of this section.
Section IV--Evaluation Panel
A. An Evaluation Panel is hereby established.
B. The Evaluation Panel shall consist of eight members, of whom:
(1) One shall be an employee of the Department of Energy, who shall
serve as Co-Chair;
(2) One shall be an employee of the Environmental Protection
Agency, who shall serve as Co-Chair;
(3) One shall be an employee of the Agency for International
Development;
(4) One shall be an employee of the Department of Agriculture;
(5) One shall be an employee of the Department of Commerce;
(6) One shall be an employee of the Department of Interior;
(7) One shall be an employee of the Department of State; and
(8) One shall be an employee of the Department of the Treasury.
C. The Panel shall be responsible for:
(1) Advising and assisting prospective U.S. and foreign
participants on the technical parameters (including with respect to
baselines, measuring and tracking) of projects submitted for inclusion
in the USIJI;
(2) Accepting project submissions from eligible U.S. participants
and their foreign partners;
(3) Reviewing and evaluating project submissions, including
baseline projections;
(4) Approving or rejecting project submissions for inclusion in the
USIJI, based on criteria contained in section V;
(5) Providing written reasons for its decisions, which shall be
made publicly available, within 90 days of receipt of a complete
submission or resubmission;
(6) Certifying emissions reduced or sequestered estimated to result
from projects;
(7) Developing operational modalities for the implementation of the
Program; and
(8) Preparing an annual report of its activities, including a
summary of approved projects.
Section V--Criteria
A. To be included in the USIJI, the Evaluation Panel must find that
a project submission:
(1) Is acceptable to the government of the host country;
(2) Involves specific measures to reduce or sequester greenhouse
gas emissions initiated as the result of the U.S. Initiative on Joint
Implementation, or in reasonable anticipation thereof;
(3) Provides data and methodological information sufficient to
establish a baseline of current and future greenhouse gas emissions.
(1) In the absence of the specific measures referred to in A.(2) of
this section;
(b) As the result of the specific measures referred to in A.(2) of
this section;
(4) Will reduce or sequester greenhouse gas emissions beyond those
referred to in A.(3)(a) of this section, and if federally funded, is or
will be undertaken with funds in excess of those available for such
activities in fiscal year 1993;
(5) Contains adequate provisions for tracking the greenhouse gas
emissions reduced or sequestered resulting from the project, and on a
periodic basis, for modifying such estimates and for comparing actual
results with those originally projected;
(6) Contains adequate provisions for external verification of the
greenhouse gas emissions reduced or sequestered by the project;
(7) Identifies any associated non-greenhouse gas environmental
impacts/benefits;
(8) Provides adequate assurance that greenhouse gas emissions
reduced or sequestered over time will not be lost or reversed; and
(9) Provides for annual reports to the Evaluation Panel on the
emissions reduced or sequestered, and on the share of such emissions
attributed to each of the participants, domestic and foreign, pursuant
to the terms of voluntary agreements among project participants.
B. In determining whether to include projects under the USIJI, the
Evaluation Panel shall also consider:
(1) The potential for the project to lead to changes in greenhouse
gas emissions elsewhere;
(2) The potential positive and negative effects of the project
apart from its effect on greenhouse gas emissions reduced or
sequestered;
(3) Whether the U.S. participants are emitters of greenhouse gases
within the United States and, if so, whether they are taking measures
to reduce or sequester such emissions; and
(4) Whether efforts are underway within the host country to ratify
or accede to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
to develop a national inventory and/or baseline of greenhouse gas
emissions by sources and removals by sinks, and whether the host
country is taking measures to reduce its emissions and enhance its
sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases.
Michael Metelits,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Environment and
Development, Bureau of Ocean and International Environmental and
Scientific Affairs.
[FR Doc. 96-29838 Filed 11-21-96; 8:45 am]
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