ecbi Publications

ecbi's Publications and Policy Analysis Unit (PPAU) generates information and advice for developing country negotiators that is relevant to the climate negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  

Developing countries often lack the economic and institutional capacity for policy analysis. If negotiators are unable to engage proactively by submitting proposals, responding to proposals from other States, and assessing the impact of global climate policy decisions on their individual States, progress in the negotiations can be hampered by the lack of alternatives and uncertainity. The differences in analytic capacity between developing countries and the industrialised world are often profound – developing countries lack support from organisations like the OECD, for instance, which has an immense apparatus producing thorough and focused reports, including direct advice on future policy responses to each of member country.

ecbi publications aim to be relevant to ongoing negotiations under the UNFCCC, timely, and trustworthy. PPAU works with negotiators from developing countries, sometimes through Editorial Committees, to identify UNFCCC issues where further analysis and policy advice is needed. Global experts are then teamed up with negotiators from devleoping countries to produce Policy Briefs and Discussion Notes. This partnership between experts and negotiators helps to ensure that the process of producing a Brief addresses the specific concerns of developing country negotiators; builds the capacity of developing country co-authors in policy analysis; and also builds ownership of the analysis. 

For new negotiators, and for use in ecbi Regional and Pre-COP Training Workshops, PPAU produces Background Papers and a series of Pocket Guides. These generally provide a more basic analysis of issues for newcomers to the process, along with the background and history of the issue in the negotiations. 

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The issue of predictable finance is once again on the negotiation table at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP26) in Glasgow. Relevant – and highly contentious – is the issue of the applicability of Share of Proceeds (SoP) to the operationalisation of the different forms of market-based cooperation under the Paris Agreement (PA). 

Levying a Share of Proceeds (SoP) on mitigation units transferred on international carbon markets can be an important instrument to raise finance for adaptation measures in developing countries. An SoP was first introduced for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and under the Doha Amendment expanded to all market mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol (KP) – both for adaptation as well as for the funding of administrative costs. Now, notwithstanding that SoP is mentioned in the PA Article 6, how it is applied is a contentious issue in the negotiation in Article 6. 

This Policy Brief, funded by DANIDA and produced on behalf of ecbi by Oxford Climate Policy and Perspectives Climate Research, assesses the current debates surrounding SoP and its potential forms of implementation and makes recommendations for Article 6 negotiations regarding effective and efficient forms of SoP for adaptation and administrative costs. The final section considers ways in which funding predictability could be addressed through applying the idea of earmarking an SoP from the sale of mitigation units or carbon taxes at the regional, national, and sub-national level. North American and European examples are discussed, and it is concluded that multi-billion Euro funding could be generated by applying an SoP comparable to that of the KP mechanisms in this manner.

Author:
Aglaja Espelage, Axel Michaelowa, and Benito Müller with contributions by Kishan Kumarsingh
Publication Date:
November, 2021

On 21 October 2021, ecbi and Perspectives Climate Research co-hosted a workshop on Supporting adaptation through Article 6 of the Paris Agreement: Innovative funding through non-market cooperation and shares of proceeds. The goal of the workshop was to provide a platform to leading Article 6 negotiators and experts to discuss generating innovative finance for adaptation through share of proceeds in the run-up to UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow. The workshop was attended by 30 participants, including representatives from NGOs, academia and key Article 6 negotiators from developing and developed countries.

Aglaja Espelage (Researcher, Perspectives Climate Research) and Professor Benito Müller (Director, ecbi) shared a pre-publication copy of a new ecbi policy brief on “Share of Proceeds: An innovative Source of Multilateral Climate Finance” with the participants and discussed the principal themes of the policy brief to be published on 1 November 2021.

In the second half of the workshop, Dr Axel Michaleowa (Research Director, Perspectives Climate Research) discussed the role of the Article 6.8 work programme in promoting adaptation finance.

The summary of the key discussions and feedback received from the workshop participants can be found in the workshop summary report here and the presentations here

Author:
Publication Date:
October, 2021

This OCP/ecbi Discussion Note by Benito Müller looks at how the use of a ‘share of proceeds’ – referred to in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol and the Article 6 Mechanism of the Paris Agreement – could, as an innovative funding source, be extended to market mechanisms at the regional, national, and sub-national level.

Author:
Benito Müller
Publication Date:
September, 2021

This Technical Paper produced by OCP/ecbi for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) as part of their Strategic Partnership looks in some detail at the options under consideration in the negotiations on establishing a common time frame for the national targets (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, one of the three top priority issues to be resolved at COP 26 in Glasgow to finalise the Paris rule book.

 

It analyses them with regard to 3 procedural prerequisites for accounting and maximizing ambition under the Paris Agreement, namely:

·         synchronized NDC end-years, to allow for taking stock of implementation and assessment of collective progress under the 5-yearly Global Stock Takes, as well as other crucial accounting tasks, such as the avoidance of double counting under the Article 6 emission trading regime

·         synchronized 'updating' (ambition enhancement), and

·         a notification window – the time between the communication year and the end year of the preceding NDC – for (first-time) communications of at least 5 years, to maximize the potential of the synchronized ambition enhancement.

 

The resulting Key Message for Policy Makers sums up the analysis in a succinct summary of why it is essential to adopt the Glasgow Ambition Cycle at COP 26.

Author:
Benito Müller
Publication Date:
July, 2021

A webinar launch of the ecbi policy brief "Quo Vadis COP? Future Arrangements for Intergovernmental Meetings under the UNFCCC" took place on 26 March 2021. It was attended by 38 participants, including key UNFCCC negotiators from developed and developing countries, academics, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat staff, and representatives from nongovernment organisations. This report summarises the key discussions, and provides further clarifications on issues raised by participants.

Author:
Benito Müller, Jen Allan, Matthias Roesti, and Luis Gomez-Echeverri
Publication Date:
July, 2021

NEW! Spanish version. Countries communicate their plans to implement the Paris Agreement through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). What should these NDCs contain? What “information to facilitate clarity, transparency, and understanding” do countries need to provide? How should countries account for their actions? What happens if they fail to meet their NDC goals? Read our updated Pocket Guide, which now includes the provisions of the Paris rulebook, to find answers to these and other questions related to NDCs.

Author:
Fatima-Zahra Taibi, Susanne Konrad, and Olivier Bois von Kursk
Publication Date:
July, 2021

NEW! French version. Countries communicate their plans to implement the Paris Agreement through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). What should these NDCs contain? What “information to facilitate clarity, transparency, and understanding” do countries need to provide? How should countries account for their actions? What happens if they fail to meet their NDC goals? Read our updated Pocket Guide, which now includes the provisions of the Paris rulebook, to find answers to these and other questions related to NDCs.

Author:
Fatima-Zahra Taibi, Susanne Konrad, and Olivier Bois von Kursk
Publication Date:
July, 2021
Author:
ecbi
Publication Date:
July, 2021

This brief history of Enhanced Direct Access traces the idea back to a number of historic precursors, such as the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) under the Marshall Plan, the World Bank Kecamatan Development Program in Indonesia, and the Brazilian Amazon Fund. It then follows how the idea evolved under the Bali Action Plan, the Transitional committee for the design of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and finally, the GCF Board, culminating in the establishment of a GCF. The second updated edition includes a summary account of EDA programmes that have been implemented under the UNFCCC/Paris Agreement Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund, as well as the French SUNREF (Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance) programme, and ends with a forward looking section on 'performance-based' EDA.

Author:
Laurel Murray and Benito Müller with contributions from Luis Gomez-Echeverri & Sophie De Coninck
Publication Date:
July, 2021

Comprend désormais les lignes directrices de mise en œuvre adoptées en 2018 et les implications pour la législation et la politique nationales dans les pays en développement.

Author:
Publication Date:
May, 2021

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