Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs; Evaluation and Assessment of the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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: [email protected].

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]

BILLING CODE 4710-09-M