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| June 1996. | ||
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Climate Change Component
New UNDP-GEF Operational Manual
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SPECIAL FOCUS THE CLIMATE CHANGE COMPONENT OF THE GEF OPERATIONAL STRATEGY The Operational Strategy for Climate Change takes as its goal the long-term objective of the UNFCCC, that is, the stabilization of greenhouse gases (GHG's) in the atmosphere at a level which will prevent serious anthropogenic interference with the climate system. In order to pursue this goal, the GEF has identified three long-term strategic programmes in which it will support projects. In addition, it will support 'enabling activities' to assist countries in preparing their communications with the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Finally, there is a window for short-term mitigation projects, that is, projects which result in a substantial reduction in GHG emission or concentration at a low, but positive unit abatement cost (UAC) or dollar per tonne of CO2 avoided or sequestered. 'Enabling activities' are activities designed to assist a country in preparation of their communication with the COP. Although the exact format of these communications has yet to be finalized, the GEF has agreed that it will pay for inventories of GHG emissions and removals, mitigation analysis, vulnerability assessments, and the preparation of communications. All UNDP programme countries which are party to the Convention are eligible for this kind of support. Countries eligible for climate change enabling activities who have not yet requested assistance: AFRICA ARAB STATES The first of the long-term strategic programmes in the climate change operational strategy is 'REMOVING BARRIERS TO ENERGY CONSERVATION AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY' which focuses on catalyzing action to implement energy conservation projects which are not now undertaken because of the existence of any one of a number of transaction barriers. A large set of opportunities to improve efficiency of energy use around the world are not being taken by either private sector, public sector, or the donor community sector. Rather than demonstrating a laundry list of energy-efficient technologies, projects in this category should systematically analyze why the energy efficiency or conservation activities (which are largely profitable or 'win-win' efforts) are not being implemented. The projects should then seek to remove those barriers. The projects fitting into this category will be energy efficiency projects aimed at surmounting barriers to energy efficiency in various sectors of relevance. To make these investments and activities sustainable, there is a need to overcome the transaction costs of a legal, human, institutional, informational, financial nature. Projects that would be good examples would include a) strengthening of energy efficiency institutions; b) working on building standards and codes; c) establishment of energy service companies (ESCO's); and d) limited demonstrations. The second programme, 'PROMOTING THE ADOPTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY BY REMOVING BARRIERS AND REDUCING IMPLEMENTATION COSTS', is designed to spur on the investments in renewable energy that are not currently being implemented. Renewable energy is increasingly a 'win-win' option, but for a number of reasons, the adoption of these technologies are slow - the programme is to accelerate adoption & utilization of renewables. Projects fitting under this category would include solar photovoltaics, agricultural wastes, biomass, biofuels, methane from wastes, wind energy and small-hydro projects. Again, the idea is to carefully identify the barriers to implementation and carefully design the project to remove them; the project could ensure their replication. These first two programmatic areas are programmes in which UNDP can provide important support to the countries in developing projects. For the third operational programme, 'REDUCING THE LONG-TERM COSTS OF LOW GREENHOUSE GAS-EMITTING ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES', UNDP will play a less prominent, but strategic role. The third operational programme is targeted at increasing the production of a select number of technologies which can provide energy in a carbon-neutral manner. The goal is to use GEF subsidies in support of incremental costs to increase the demand for these technologies, thereby enabling producers to capture economies of scale in production. The technologies in question would include those that are not yet commercially competitive; have little or no GHG emissions; have the likelihood of meeting technology cost goals (becoming the cheapest option) and have a clearcut impact on providing energy with little or no GHG emissions. Examples would include: a) gasification for use in advanced gas turbines for central station power and combined heat biomas and power; b) baseload windpower from large wind farms for long transmission; c) photovoltaic technology (especially thin-film); d) low temperature (PEM) fuel cells for transport and combined heat and power production (CHP) at distributed building sites. The short-term window is used for projects with a favorable unit abatement cost or $/tonne of CO2 avoided ratio. This programme will also be used to explore possible approaches to climate-change projects which might form the basis for future projects in the transport, carbon sequestration, and geothermal energy area. UNDP-GEF has strategic priorities in the area of climate change. To date, UNDP has obtained 'enabling activity support in the climate change field for over 50 countries. UNDP could provide support to countries in capacity building and technical assistance projects. For long-term programes, the emphasis is on operational programmes 1 and 2. The removal of barriers is seen as a primary role for UNDP, and promoting countries' abilities to carry out 'win-win' projects, i.e. projects that are both profitable and good for the global environment. There is a limited, but strategic emphasis in programme 3 which includes the final preparation for larger investments and disseminating results. Operational programme 3 also results in a more limited set of countries due to limited technical capability and emissions profiles. With respect to short-term programmes, a limited number of interventions are expected. Although UNDP can advise countries to make effective use of this category for strategically important interventions, this programmatic category should be used only when the project is of the highest national priority and there is no long-term programme into which the project could fit. Given the limited financial resources available from GEF, countries should select carefully those projects which are of the highest importance. In viewing the overall operational strategy for climate change, it is important to bear in mind that GEF provides only partial project costs in the form of 'incremental costs'. Baseline costs must be provided from IPF or other funds.  NEW UNDP-GEF OPERATIONAL MANUAL The Operational Manual has been developed by UNDP's Global Environment Facility unit to provide comprehensive, standardised operational formats that support timely, efficient and accurate UNDP-GEF project identification, design, implementation, appraisal, approval, monitoring and evaluation. UNDP's Country Office staff The manual is comprised of two volumes: Throughout Volume 1 citations are made to documentation contained in Volume 2 of the Operational Manual. A Table of Contents identifying documents by a numbering code appears at the beginning of Volume 2. Users are urged to acquaint themselves fully with both volumes and to utilise them as companion reference works. Also, Volume 1 contains numerous citations to chapters in the UNDP Programme and Projects Manual (PPM). It should be emphasised that the UNDP GEF Operational Manual is intended as a GEF-specific supplement to the PPM. The user should consult and follow the PPM guidelines when they are cited in this volume. Those users who are not UNDP staff or consultants can access copies of the PPM through UNDP's Country Offices. Volume 2: Reference Sourcebook is divided into two sections. The first, GEF Reference Resources (coded as numbers 21000-26000) contains essential strategic and programming papers approved by the GEF Council, as well as UNDP-specific guidance. Section two, Document Formats, Guidelines and Samples (27000) will assist users in formulating reviewing and evaluating project proposals. Finally, it must be emphasised that the Global Environment Facility is, in many important regards, a 'moving target.' Many GEF guidelines, procedures and criteria are under continual refinement and evolution. This manual will be updated periodically to reflect these new developments. Questions regarding the contents of this manual should be directed to the local UNDP Country Office or the appropriate GEF staff at UNDP headquarters. The UNDP-GEF operational manual will be sent to country offices during the first week of June. THE ABC's OF THE GEF KEY TERMS (taken from UNDP GEF Operational Manual) The following key terms were selected based on their particular relevance to the Global Environment Facility. They are intended as a supplement to the authoritative UNDP-wide glossary published in the UNDP Programme and Projects Manual. A B C Conference of the Parties (COP) - A meeting of the countries that have ratified an international convention. Their meetings are designated COP-1, COP-2, and so on. Conventions - GEF funding for projects is linked to three internationally adopted conventions - the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Convention on Desertification. The GEF functions as the interim financial mechanism for both the climate change and biodiversity conventions. In order to receive funding for biodiversity or climate change projects, a country must be a party to the relevant convention. Cooperating Agency - An executing agency can designate another organisation to collaborate on the implementation of a GEF project. An executing agency or the government may sign a Cooperating Agency Agreement with an organisation wtihin the UN system or a multilateral development bank to implement a component of a project requiring specific technical expertise or skills. The executing agency, however, remains ultimately responsible for the success of the project. Cost-effectiveness - The best possible results achieved through the least amount of expenditure; for example, the greatest possible reduction of carbon dioxide emissions at the lowest cost. 'Cost-effectiveness' is used in both the short and long-term sense, since activities can have long-term catalytic impact but not have apparent short-term cost effectiveness. Council - GEF's governing body, under whose policy direction the three Implementing Agencies operate. The Council is made up of 32 members representing constituency groupings of all the member countries of the GEF. Sixteen members are from developing countries, 14 from developed countries, and 2 from economies in transition (central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union). The Council meets biannually. To be continued in the July 96 issue of 'News and Views'
Enabling activities (EA's) are designed to assist countries in meeting their obligations under the conventions on biodiversity and climate change. This can be further defined as the preparation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and the first report of the country to the Conference of the Parties. There are guidelines that the GEF has prepared and they are available from the UNDP-GEF office. In principle assistance up to $350,000 per country is available to help countries in preparation of these activities. How much of this amount is received will depend on how much has already been done in country and what else is needed. Essentially, these strategies and action plans consist of the following: a) stock-taking and inventory of existing information; b) identification and analysis of options for the conservation and sustainable uses of biodiversity; c) preparation of a strategy and action plan for the conservation and sustainable uses of biodiversity; d) the first national report. Not only is there operational criteria, but a couple of model examples which have been prepared which will assist in the preparation of ea's. All three Implementing Agencies will assist countries in implementing and delivering the enabling activities. Discussions are being held on how to proceed when there are overlaps with the requests from the IA's. At present, the following enabling activities have been approved: UNDP - Equatorial Guinea and Argentina; World Bank - Georgia and Lithuania; and UNEP - Cameroon; Malawi; Bahamas and Egypt. As the discussions progress, a more complete list of countries will be sent. The EA's are a crucial first step in the implementation of the Convention as they will lay the ground for possible future GEF assistance within the operational programmes. In the case of biodiversity, this includes; drylands; coastal and marine, forests, mountain, arid and semi arid ecosystems. Biodiversity strategies and action plans are supposed to be participatory processes in which not only the various government sectors (protected areas, forestry, coastal management, fisheries, agriculture) but also civil society is supposed to participate. When needed, enabling activities can have some limited capacity building associated with them - e.g. training needed to carry out and prepare the action plans. Preparation of enabling activities will require the teamwork of national bodies, UNDP country offices, UNDP regional bureaux and the UNDP-GEF unit. BUSINESS PLAN ASSUMPTIONS One of the outcomes of the fourth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development held in April 1996, was the decision to hold a special session of the General Assembly to review the five years progress since the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio in 1992. As the GEF is one of the direct products from UNCED, it will undergo great scrutiny in terms of its results and effectiveness, primarily in supporting the Conventions on Biological Diversity and Climate Change. As 1997 will also be the year to review replenishment of the GEF, UNDP's performance is very important. UNDP's business plan for FY97 covers the time period June 1996 to July 1997 during which UNDP is expected to produce project outputs of approximately $80-100 million. The planning assumptions include initiatives by the GEF unit at UNDP headquarters to facilitate training UNDP operational staff on GEF policies and procedures and developing tools to quantify and value global benefits in the context of Capacity Building/Technical Assistance projects. The GEF unit has so far developed 'The GEF Owner's Guide: A Project Development Workshop' along with UNEP and the World Bank, and the newly published UNDP-GEF Operational Manual. These products are designed to enable country offices understand the complexities of the GEF cycle, and to apply for GEF funds in a cost-effective and focused manner. By developing projects that incorporate the GEF criteria, UNDP will ultimately accomplish GEF objectives while furthering sustainable human development. CALENDAR OF EVENTS GEF Small Grants Programme Global Workshop for National Coordinators - New York June 24-July 2, 1996 Conference of the Parties (COP) - Climate Change Convention and Subsidiary Bodies Meetings - Geneva - 8-19 July 1996 GEF Project Development Workshops Regional Environmental Focal Points Meeting: [ GEF Secretariat ~ Downloads ~ Comments ] |
