Scaling-Up Climate Change Mitigation Efforts and Prospects for Namas in the Waste Sector

Regional Workshop on Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions in Asia and the Pacific: Scaling-up climate change mitigation efforts and prospects for NAMAs in the waste sector 18 and 19 March 2014, Bangkok, Thailand BACKGROUND PAPER Disclaimer The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The content and views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily reflect the views or policies, or carry the endorsement of the United Nations. Reference to a commercial entity or product in this publication does not imply endorsement. Trademark names and symbols are used in an editorial fashion with no intention on infringement on trademark and copyright laws. The publishing organization does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. This paper was prepared without formal editing and for the sole purpose of providing background information and facilitating discussions at the Regional Workshop. 1 I. Introduction and context The Regional Workshop on “Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions in Asia and the Pacific: Scaling-up climate change mitigation efforts and prospects for NAMAs in the waste sector” is organized in the context of the project “Pro-poor and sustainable solid waste management in secondary cities and small towns”, implemented by ESCAP in partnership with Waste Concern. The project seeks to promote a shift from “end-of-the-pipe” to a “waste to resource” approach by assisting local governments to establish integrated resource recovery centres (IRRCs) and develop and implement city-wide solid waste management strategies that are decentralized, pro- poor, low-carbon and financially viable. The project has established pilot IRRCs in a number of countries in the region, namely Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, and is now assisting in scaling-up these sustainable solutions city and country wide. In this regard, there has been increasing interest in Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) as a tool for countries to promote climate change mitigation actions in the context of national sustainable development strategies. While the share of the waste sector in terms of greenhouse gas emissions is relatively small compared to other sectors such as energy supply, the sustainable development co-benefits are very large, and NAMAs could provide a meaningful vehicle to promote and up-scale sustainable solutions to waste management. Moreover, while basic legislation promoting sustainable waste management approaches is in place in most countries in the region, important gaps persist in terms of implementation. NAMAs could provide a means to bridging these gaps and addressing barriers to implementation, thereby bringing transformational change. ESCAP has been supporting its member states in achieving economic growth and development goals through strategies which do not impact negatively on the environment, promoting the concept of green growth as early as 2005 following its adoption at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific (MCED-5), convened by ESCAP. More recently, ESCAP has released the "Low-Carbon Green Growth Roadmap for Asia and the Pacific", which provides policymakers in the region with a comprehensive list of policy options and practical implementing strategies to consider adopting, based on their own national priorities and circumstances. The Roadmap highlights low carbon development strategies and NAMAs as key tools for green growth and provides practical examples of potential NAMAs. Set against this context, the Workshop is organized to review the latest developments and thinking on NAMAs and discuss opportunities for NAMAs to bring transformational change in the waste sector in the region. In particular, the workshop will aim at achieving the following specific objectives: Review the current status of development of NAMAs in the Asia-Pacific region, in particular in relation to the waste sector, and understand future prospects; Identify trends, challenges and relevant issues related to the development of NAMAs in the region, and in particular in the waste sector; and Share experiences and discuss policy, institutional, financial and technical issues associated with the development of these programmes. This background paper is intended to provide information on NAMAs, including their relevance and opportunities for application in the waste sector in countries in Asia-Pacific. This paper also highlights relevant points for discussion to be addressed by the Workshop. II. Background on NAMAs Since they were first proposed in 2007, at the Thirteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-13) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) have become one of the building blocks of international climate negotiations. 2 Although the emergence of the NAMA concept dates back to 2007, the definition that was introduced as an outcome of COP-13 in the Bali Action Plan is still the one that prevails and gathers the consensus of the Parties to the Convention: “Nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing country Parties in the context of sustainable development, supported and enabled by technology, financing and capacity building, in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner” (UNFCCC, 2007). NAMAs refer to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation measures that developing countries choose to voluntary undertake in accordance with their respective capacities and socio-economic realities. These measures should also support and take place in the context of sustainable development priorities of the host country. One of the key elements of NAMAs is that they are expected to be a vehicle to channel international support in terms of technology transfer, financing and capacity building. The lack of a precise definition of the NAMA concept can be seen both as a challenge and an opportunity. On the one hand, there is not a single criterion that would restrict a country to consider as a NAMA any domestic mitigation action if it wishes to do so, raising issues of what is a NAMA and what is not. On the other hand this ambiguity gives considerable flexibility on how countries can structure and promote their emission reductions. Indeed, international climate negotiations have reiterated that NAMAs are to be developed via a bottom-up process and not via strict UNFCCC “top-down” decisions. NAMAs are thus expected to be defined and driven on a voluntary basis by countries (Sterk et al., 2013). Even though an accurate definition of NAMAs has not yet been agreed among the Parties, NAMAs can be broadly classified by the type/level of the mitigation measure and the funding source, as illustrated in Figure 1 below. NAMA Classification Type/level of Funding Source mitigation measure Strategies / Policy(ies) / Unilateral Supported Goals Projects Plans Programmes NAMAs NAMAs Credited NAMAs Figure 1 – Classification of NAMAs (Source: Own elaboration) As can be observed, under the umbrella of a NAMA several different measures can be included, and these may consist of goals, strategies, plans, policies, programmes and/or projects. Among these different modalities, a distinction has emerged between the so-called “policy NAMAs” and “project NAMAs”, with the first designating broader actions at the policy/regulatory level, while the latter pertaining to specific projects. It is however expected that most NAMAs will consist of a combination of different policies and specific activities on the ground (UNEP, 2013). In terms of funding, there are essentially two ways of financing a NAMA: unilateral or supported NAMAs. Unilateral NAMAs are financed exclusively with the use of domestic resources, while supported NAMAs are to be financed with international funding. If associated with a crediting mechanism, supported NAMAs may take the form of “credited NAMAs”, although no consensus has been reached yet on the modalities and modus operandi of credited NAMAs (GIZ, 2012). 3 As of the end of 2013, 82 NAMAs had been identified worldwide, of which 35 had been formally submitted to the UNFCCC NAMA Registry (Ecofys, 2013). The graphs in the figure below provide an overview of the current state of NAMA development with regards to their geographical and sectorial distribution. Figure 2 – Status of NAMA development (Source: Ecofys, 2013) It may be observed that most NAMAs are being developed in Latin American countries, while only a relatively small share of NAMAs (13%) originates from countries in the Asia-Pacific. The Asia- Pacific region has been relatively slower in terms of NAMA development, even though developing countries of the region accounted for almost 50% of global GHG emissions in 2010 (ESCAP, 2013). The region’s position as a leading GHG emitter is expected to continue, in view of the combined population of these countries (4.1 billion or 58% of the world’s total in 2012) and the high levels of economic growth. Notwithstanding, it is worth noting that a few countries in the region are already catching-up and conceptualizing their own NAMA programmes, such as for example Indonesia, the Philippines and

Load more