THE US INITIATIVE ON JOINT IMPLEMENTATION

More than 150 countries are now party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), which seeks, as its ultimate obje ctive, to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GH G) at a level that would prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. As a step toward this goal, all Parties are to take m easures to mitigate climate change and to promote and cooperate in the development and diffusion of technologies and practices that control or reduce emissions and enhance sinks of greenhouse gases. In the US, efforts between countries or entities within them to reduce net GHG em issions undertaken cooperatively, called joint implementation (JI), ho ld significant potential both for combatting the threat of global warm ing and for promoting sustainable development. To develop and operatio nalize the JI concept, the US launched its Initiative on Joint Impleme ntation (USIJI) in October 1993, and designed the programme to attract private sector resources and to encourage the diffusion of innovative technologies to mitigate climate change. The USIJI provides a mechani sm for investments by US entities in projects to reduce GHG emissions worldwide and has developed a set of criteria for evaluating proposed projects for their potential. The criteria are designed to identify an d allow the USIJI to 'accept' projects that: Support the development g oals of the host country while providing greenhouse gas and other envi ronmental benefits; Produce measurable reductions in addition to reduc tions that would have been achieved in the absence of the project; Can be monitored and tracked; Will not result in net greenhouse gas emiss ions elsewhere or otherwise have significant secondary environmental i mpacts; Have enduring impact. To date, the USIJI has received more tha n 80 project proposals, of which 25 have been accepted. These projects represent a diverse set of innovative technologies and practices in 1 1 countries, and include projects developing renewable energy sources such as solar, biomass, and hydroelectric power, and land-use change p rojects leading to better forest management, reforestation and affores tation. Aggregating preliminary estimates presented to the USIJI by pr oject developers suggests that cumulative net emission reductions as a result of these projects are expected to be over 30 million metric to ns of carbon (mt C) equivalent. While the USIJI does not certify proje ct estimates prospectively, it does set forth provisions for monitorin g and verifying emissions reductions as they occur. Furthermore, accep ted projects, when fully implemented, are expected to lead to signific ant financial and technical investments in host countries. Additional proposals considered by the USIJI include submissions for projects in such other technical areas as methane reduction from livestock and was te treatment. Some of these proposals were withdrawn and others were n ot accepted. However, most of these proposals have been placed 'In Dev elopment' and will receive limited technical support in order to assis t them in fully meeting USIJI criteria for acceptance. To test the USI JI criteria and to provide input into the international pilot phase, t he US intends to promote the development of other 'acceptable' project s, and to seek additional information on the experience of individual developers during project implementation. As a supplemental effort, th e USIJI seeks to assist countries in developing their national joint i mplementation programmes and to this end not only has developed a dome stic outreach effort, but also sponsors regular international workshop s, produces a USIJI newsletter, and maintains a Home Page on the World Wide Web.