Documents on Long-term Issues

The objective of the work on long-term issues is to investigate how possible policy decisions, including future commitments, may progressively ensure the long term success of the UN Convention on Climate Change.

Financing Mechanisms to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation: Issues in Design and Implementation (December 2007)
by Katia Karousakis and Jan Corfee-Morlot
This paper identifies key features and examines performance issues pertinent to the design and implementation of a fund- or market-based mechanism to RED(D). Four key features relevant to an environmentally-effective and economically-efficient financing mechanism are establishing clear goals and objectives, ensuring sufficient and long-term sources of funding, developing eligibility and prioritisation criteria, ensuring accurate and consistent monitoring and performance evaluation. The paper reviews and assesses the recent proposals for RED(D) financing mechanisms under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to consider how they address these features.

Adaptation to Climate Change: International Agreements for Local Needs (December 2007)
By Ellina Levina
Despite current efforts and attention to adaptation, a big gap remains between adaptation needs and current efforts to address them. It has been recognised by both developing and developed countries that adaptation deserves a special place in any climate regime that will follow the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012. This paper outlines a possible framework for an agreement on adaptation and highlights several issues that need to be recognised and clarified to make such an agreement effective. It examines the current state of play on adaptation at the international level, assesses several recent proposals on how to treat adaptation in a post-2012 agreement, and it indicates how other international agreements – such as the MDG and The Convention on Biodiversity – also address adaptation.

SD-PAMs: What, Where, When and How? (December 2007)
by Jane Ellis (OECD), Richard Baron and Barbara Buchner (IEA)
The use of “sustainable development policies and measures” (SD-PAMs) has been proposed as a possible type of action or commitment for some developing countries in the post-2012 framework. This paper examines what SD-PAMs could encompass, how and where they could be implemented and how they could fit into a post-2012 climate regime. The paper highlights that in order for SD-PAMs to be implemented, agreement is needed on the purpose and definition of SD-PAMs, when countries can start using SD-PAMs, when countries are no longer eligible to focus their GHG mitigation activities on SD-PAMs only, and how SD-PAMs are to be encouraged. The paper concludes that the greater the incentives available for implementing SD-PAMs, the greater the required level of stringency of international oversight – and that a balance will be needed between the international benefits of SD-PAMs and how much oversight is desirable and feasible.

Policy Uncertainty, Investment and Commitment Periods (December 2007)
by Barbara Buchner
Today’s investment decisions in key sectors such as energy, forestry or transport have significant impacts on the levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the coming decades. Given the economic and environmental long-term implications of capital investment and retirement, a climate mitigation regime should aim to encourage capital investment in climate-friendly technologies. Many factors affect technology choice and the timing of investment, including investor expectations about future prices and policies. In light of this, recent international discussions have focussed on the importance of providing more certainty about future climate policy stringency. The design of commitment periods can play a role in creating this certainty. This paper assesses how the length of commitment periods influences policy uncertainty and investment decisions. In particular, the paper analyses the relationship between commitment period length and near term investment decisions in climate friendly technology.

Incentives to Reduce GHG Emissions from Deforestation: Lessons Learned from Costa Rica and Mexico (May 2007)
by Katia Karousakis
A number of options are being proposed for an instrument to reduce GHG emissions from deforestation (RED) in developing countries, including both market and non-market based approaches. This paper focuses on the use of a market-based approach to RED, based on lessons learned and good practices from payments for Environmental Services Programmes in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as other experiences from the climate change framework.

Initial Review of Policies and Incentives to Reduce GHG Emissions from Deforestation (Nov 2006)
by Katia Karousakis
At COP-11 in Montreal (December 2005), a two-year process was initiated to consider policy approaches and incentive options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in developing countries. This paper gives a brief overview of deforestation, outlining the economic concepts related to efficient land-use options and providing an introduction to some of the policy approaches and incentive options that are available to reduce emissions from deforestation. These include domestic and international approaches that have been used in the past to capture ‘forest values’ and options that have been suggested to date to capture the ‘carbon values’ associated with forests.

Approaches for Future International Co-operation (June 2005)
by Cédric Philibert
This paper provides a comprehensive repertory of approaches for future international co-operation in climate change mitigation, based on the literature.  Its headlines gather proposals made by various authors that share the main basic features. The various options are classified into a few broad categories: A first group of approaches based on quantitative approaches would be somewhat compatible with international emissions trading; options deal with the nature of the quantified objectives, or with the timing and differentiation of emission objectives. Another family of approaches would not easily be included in a broad emissions trading regime; most, but not all, suggest various forms of agreements on policies and measure and technology-focussed approaches. All these approaches are building blocks enabling the reader to consider a much broader set of options by combining them in various ways.

Exploring Options for "Sectoral Crediting Mechanisms (May 2005)
by Martina Bosi and Jane Ellis
Market-based greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement mechanisms are likely to remain attractive in a future climate regime, as they offer flexibility to reduce emissions where most cost-effective. The aim of this paper is to explore different ways of designing “sectoral crediting mechanisms” that could encourage greater GHG-friendly investments in given sectors by generating emission credits.  This paper is part of ongoing analytical work on market-based approaches undertaken under the auspices of the Annex I Expert Group on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

International Energy Technology Collaboration and Climate Change Mitigation: a series 
Synthesis Report (Nov 2005)
by Debra Justus & Cédric Philibert
The case studies of this series point out that there is little information to indicate that technology collaboration alone leads to emission reductions on the scale needed to limit growth in greenhouse gas emissions. For many energy production and consumption activities, technology change is a slow process. So to improve the environmental performance of energy technologies and accelerate their uptake, governments need a portfolio approach that includes technology and complementary economic and social policies that provide an adequate framework for essential private sector investment.

Case Studies:
Following previous work on technology innovation, development and diffusion, and international energy technology collaboration, these case studies review experiences and identify lessons for international collaboration on climate-friendly technologies.
1. Concentrating Solar Power Technologies (Nov 2004)
by Cédric Philibert 
Case Study 1 looks at the promising field of concentrating solar power technologies, assessing the successes and shortcomings of various types of international collaboration (the IEA SolarPaces implementing agreement, the GEF project portfolio, the "Global Market Initiative").
2. Cooperation in Agriculture: R&D on High-yielding Crop Varieties (Nov 2004)
by Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun
Case Study 2 identifies lessons from the successes of international collaboration in research and development on high-yielding crop varieties that enabled the Green Revolution, with a particular focus on the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
3. Appliance Energy Efficiency (May 2005)
by Thomas Guéret
Case Study 3 aims to provide some insight into international technology collaboration in the field of energy efficiency. It is particularly relevant because of its global market issues ranging from refrigerators to standby consumption and upcoming new services (mainly in Information and Communication Technology - ICT).
4. Clean Coal Technologies (May 2005)
by Cédric Philibert and Jacek Podkanski
Case Study 4 reviews recent experience in international collaboration in the field of clean coal technologies and identifies lesssons relevant to climate-friendly technology collaboration. It presents information on cleaner and more efficient coal technologies, with a focus on fuel combustion and power generation, as well as on clean coal technology and equipment transfer to China.
5. Wind Power Integration into Electricity Systems (May 2005)
by Debra Justus
Case Study 5 breifly summarises the growth of wind power since 1990, primarily in OECD countries, and takes a look at international collaboration underway to address grid integration issues.

International Energy Technology Collaboration and Climate Change Mitigation (May 2004)
by Cédric Philibert
This paper elaborates on previous work on technology in the context of climate change, notably the paper Technology Innovation, Development and Diffusion. It considers the potential advantages and disadvantages of international energy technology collaboration and transfer. It describes the globalisation context and the existing channels for such collaboration, and discusses various suggestions for increasing international collaboration in order to help mitigate climate change more effectively.

Technology Innovation, Development and Diffusion (May 2003)
by Cédric Philibert

This paper reviews climate change mitigation potential from existing and emerging energy technologies. Dissemination of existing efficient technologies should not be neglected; but the depth of the emission cuts needed in the future will require new technologies. The study discusses how technologies evolve, the role of behaviour, and what policy tools may foster technical change. The international dimensions are also examined. Climate policies would certainly benefit from more action directly shaped to promote technology innovation and development; market transforming policies, such as taxes or caps, may not provide enough stimuli for the long-term future. However, an exclusively "technology" focused approach would not fully sustitute for a more comprehensive agreement and action portfolio.

Institutional Capacity and Climate Actions: Summary Paper (May 2004)
by Stéphane Willems
This paper explores the role of institutional capacity in selecting the most appropriate climate actions. Why should institutional capacity be considered as an important criterion for selecting future climate actions, alongside environmental, economic and/or political considerations, in some countries? The paper draws on national cases studies on Mexico, India and Bulgaria, as well another on national inventory preparation in developed and developing countries. It suggests a step-by-step, dynamic model for prioritising climate actions and capacity development measures over time. This could help countries select climate actions that are consistent with the pace of their institutional development, building confidence and paving the way to more ambitious policies.

Institutional Capacity and Climate Actions: Case Studies on Mexico, India and Bulgaria (2003)

These country-specific capacity assessments provide useful insights on each country’s institutional challenges and how they might affect the development of current and future actions.

Evolution of Mitigation Commitments: Some Key Issues  (2003)
Also available in French and in Spanish.

This study considers a broad range of issues relating to the future of the UN Convention on Climate Change. It first draws a "long-term picture", considering damage and policy costs, risks and uncertainties, and technical, institutional and social changes. It then considers various forms of quantified objectives for future commitments, as well as alternatives to quantified objectives at country level, and discusses allocation.