Climate Change and CDM: UNDP Promo-Site
Source for understanding how the multilateral machinary of the UN system works
“Developing countries, and the poorest people who live in them, are the most vulnerable to climate change. Yet it is also they who are most in need of expanded energy services to meet their growth and development needs. UNDP is working across the world to help developing countries build the capacity needed both to adapt to the impacts of climate change and dramatically expand the reach of affordable, improved energy services to the 2 billion people who currently go without. As global citizens we cannot afford to wait to address these urgent issues.” - Mark Malloch Brown
UNDP is committed to supporting developing countries in responding to climate change concerns as part of their overall sustainable development efforts. UNDP works with developing countries to create integrated solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges, with a primary focus on improving the lives of those living in extreme poverty.
Download UNDP’s Climate Change brochure: Sustainable Development, Energy & the Environment: UNDP’s Climate Change Initiatives.
UNDP’s commitment to climate change is reflected in two of the four UNDP energy priorities:
Energy Priority 3: Promoting clean energy technology
Modern energy technologies are available that can support win-win development options, addressing both global environmental protection and local development needs. These include modernised biomass, solar photovoltaics, wind, hydrogen and other renewable energy options. High-efficiency, super-clean carbon-based energy systems are part of win-win solutions.
UNDP efforts in this priority area will support the introduction and adaptation of low emissions technologies that can support economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability. GEF continues to play a major role in this area. Service Line 3 of the Thematic Trust Fund on Energy for Sustainable Development will complement UNDP-GEF energy programmes through the provision of funding for activities not eligible for GEF support, but essential for addressing local sustainable development needs.
Energy Priority 4: Increasing access to financing for energy
As the majority of all new investments in energy will come from non-ODA sources, this priority will focus on support to enhance developing countries’ ability to attract investment financing for sustainable energy options. In addition, with increasing international attention on climate change issues, and the pending entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol and associated mechanisms, new energy financing opportunities from both the public and private sectors are emerging. For developing countries to take maximum advantage of all these opportunities, information sharing and capacity building mechanisms are needed. UNDP will support developing countries’ efforts to shape, learn about and participate in new energy financing mechanisms including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) through Service Line 4 of the Thematic Trust Fund on Energy for Sustainable Development.
More information on UNDP’s priority areas is available here.
At the same time addressing the effects of climate change is a critical aspect of UNDP’s work since these effects will be felt most intensely by developing countries.
Link to UNDP’s Environmental Programmes
Protection of natural resources is of utmost importance in countries with large rural populations dependent on local agriculture for survival. Droughts and flooding, intensified by climate change, can lead to famine and loss or contamination of water supplies. Deforestation due to population pressures can accelerate land degradation, increasing the vulnerability of the poorest communities.
In view of the linkages between poverty and the environment, UNDP is engaged in initiatives to promote sustainable management of natural resources – land, water and biological assets – on which poor communities rely for their livelihoods. In over 90% of UNDP programme countries, UNDP implements environment-related projects. For more information on UNDP’s environmental policies and programmes, go to BDP’s environmental website.
UNDP’s Thematic Trust Fund on Environment is a source of funding for adaptation to climate change. For more information, please refer to Service Line 3 of the Thematic Trust Fund on Environment.
UNDP’s Trust Fund to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNSO) provides resources and technical training for countries undertaking national action plans regarding water management and drought preparedness and mitigation. Approximately 2 million peoples live in drylands, and most of the countries affected by desertification and drought are among the poorest and most marginalized in the world. Through policy dialogue and institutional capacity building UNDP helps governments integrate dryland concerns into national poverty reduction strategies to reduce the vulnerability of communities to environmental crisis.
In addition, UNDP is involved in work to assist countries with vulnerability and adaptation assessments to address the issue of expected climate change impacts. Small island states and low-lying areas are the most at risk from natural disasters related to climate change given their limited options in terms of adaptation. UNDP is also preparing a World Vulnerability Report that looks at risks to human development from natural disasters, including best practice case studies.
The CDM User’s Guide is designed as a reference tool primarily for UNDP Country Offices to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of the CDM and implement projects efficiently and equitably in a variety of national and sectoral contexts. We also hope that other interested individuals and organizations will also find it useful. This document addresses issues of climate change and sustainable development including UNDP’s CDM strategy, the CDM project cycle, development of the project design document, procedures for small-scale projects, governance and transaction costs, CDM transactions, the carbon market, and further information on such issues (Annexes).
The UNDP CDM User’s Guide can be accessed by clicking on each of the following sections:
• Executive Summary and Chapter 1: Furthering Sustainable Development and Emissions Reductions
• Chapter 2: The CDM Project Cycle
• Chapter 3: Developing the Project Design Document
• Chapter 4: Simplified Procedures for Small-Scale Projects
• Chapter 5: Issues of Governance, Transaction Costs and Efficiency
• Chapter 6: CDM Transactions
• Chapter 7: The Carbon Offset Marketplace
• Annexes Section
Earlier drafts of this guide benefited from regional discussion with country offices and other bureaux and unit at UNDP as well from external organizations and resource persons. The CDM User’s Guide is meant to be a living document that will be periodically updated, based in part from learning from experience, as the rules and regulations relating to the implementation of CDM are strengthened. This guide is currently being field-tested in selected countries through collaboration with UNDP regional bureaux and country offices.
We look forward to continued feedback so that this evolving document can advance the use of CDM as a voluntary and mutually beneficial resource for meeting the emissions reduction commitments of developed countries while promoting sustainable development in developing countries. Please send your comments to Arun Kashyap, Climate Change and CDM Adviser at UNDP (arun.kashyap@undp.org).
UNDP has been involved in an interagency effort to explore and summarize the current state of knowledge on adaptation to climate change and the need for its integration into poverty eradication and sustainable development efforts. The 10 agencies involved (UNDP, UNEP, World Bank, ADB, AfDB, GTZ, DFID, OECD, and EC) worked collaboratively on producing a paper entitled, "Poverty and Climate Change: Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor through Adaptation".
After several consultative meetings and review by various professionals in poverty and climate change areas in both developing and developed countries, the document was launched on 10 June 2003 at the 18th Session of the Subsidiary Bodies of the UNFCCC in Bonn.
To view the document, please click on the following links:
Part 1 (PDF 1MB)
Part 2 (PDF 2MB)
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