ENB COP-4: Special Events page, 3 Nov

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Forests, land use and carbon: a dialogue on the issues

This special event was sponsored by the World Bank in assocation with the World Resources Institute and the Nature Conservancy. Its objective was to discuss and disseminate information on the technical issues relating to implementing transferable emissions reductions from forest and land use change projects.

In this real audio interview, Paige Brown from the World Resources Institute talks about the aims and outcomes of today's meeting, and discusses her hopes for the conference.

RealAudio excerpt from the presentation

Paige L. Brown, World Resources Institute WRI (paigeb@wri.org), www.wri.org/wri, Anotonio G. M. La Vina, WRI (tonylav@wri.org), and Ken Chomitz, World Bank, kchomitz@worldbank.org during the World Bank sponsored panel addressing forests, land use and carbon.

Jorge González Torres, of La Federacion de Partidos Verdes de las Americas, expressed concern that such a small emphasis was put on forest land use and carbon issues at the conference during a World Bank sponsored side event

ENB team member Chris Spence interviews Paige Brown, World Resources Institute, www.wri.org

Workshop on the Kyoto Protocol and Beyond insurance Implications

Organised by UNEP in collaboration with the UNEP Insurance Industry Initiative, the purpose of the workshop was to:

inform on the progress the insurance Initiative has made since Kyoto,
present the Executive summary of the report "The Kyoto Protocol, Implications for the Insurance Industry" which provides an overview of the insurance view point regarding the three mechanisms under the Protocol,
discuss the application of the corporate CO2 indicator by the UK companies launched by the Insurance Initiative.

RealAudio excerpt from the presentation by Klaus Töpfer

UNEP Insurance Industry Initiative Background Document (in PDF format)

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer and Ivo Knoepfel, Swiss Reinsurance at a side event on insurance implications of the Kyoto Protocol

UNEP Statement by Financial Institutions on the Evironment and Sustainable Development (in PDF format)

Jacob Werksman, Farhana Yamin and Jürgen Lefevere of Foundation for International Envirnomental Law and Development (FIELD, www.field.org.uk/)

A future for carbon taxes?

Organised by the International Academy of the Environment (IAE, http://www.iae.org), an organisation based in Geneva, the meeting looked at the issue of carbon taxes. Speakers, including Dr Andrea Baranzini and Professor Jose Goldemberg, discussed the relative merits of carbon taxes compared with other emission reduction policy instruments.

In this interview, Dr Robert Hamwey of the IAE discusses the meeting and his views on carbon taxes.

Dr Andrea Baranzini, also of the IAE, talks about some of the specific issues relating to carbon taxes.

Professor Jose Goldemberg, University of Sao Paulo, Dr. Robert Hamwey and Dr. Andrea Beranzini, International Academy of the Environment, (www.iae.org) lead a panel discussion on opportunities for emissions reductions through carbon taxes

Emissions trading and Joint Implementation

This meeting was arranged by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IAE). Its focus was the links between domestic and international systems governing emissions trading and joint implementation.

In this RealAudio segment from the meeting, the OECD's Fiona Mullins discusses national and international systems for emissions trading, arguing that most aspects of national systems should be left to the discretion of the individual countries. This view provoked some discussion from participants.

Other key speakers included the IEA's Richard Baron, who talked about institutional issues for emissions trading and joint implementaion.

Fiona Mullins, OECD, spoke on national and international systems for emissions trading, while Richard Baron, International Energy Agency, addressed institutional issues for emissions trading and joint implementation

Side event on enhancing policy-making capacity under the UNFCCC

This event, sponsored by the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), reported on enhancing policy-making capacity under the UNFCCC reported on the results of an EU-funded project addressing future commitments of developing countries. Panelists discussed the issues raised by compliance procedures in general and for flexible mechanisms, in particular. In addition, difficulties in collecting data with respect to emissions trading and the clean development mechanism were discussed.

Group picture of Jacob Werksman, jw18@soas.ac.uk, and Farhana Yamin, fy1@soas.ac.uk, from FIELD (www.field.org.uk/) listening to John Lanchbery, Birdlife International, john.lanchbery@rsb as he fields questions regarding his paper on criteria for effective emissions trading

Miscellaneous photos:

Conference participants hold their new COP-4 recyclable bags.

Langston Goree, Managing Editor of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, and Beat Nobs, Swiss Agency for the Environment, compare cell phones.

ENB team members, Angela Churie and Molly Rosenman, consult the monitor for the schedule of the day's events.

Francesca Foppiano and Oscar Fiestas-Tejada, UNFCCC Secretariat.

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