[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 227 (Friday, November 22, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59480-59481]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-29838]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice 2471]


Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific 
Affairs; Evaluation and Assessment of the U.S. Initiative on Joint 
Implementation

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Climate Change Action Plan, announced by President 
Clinton on October 19, 1993, set forth a series of measures designed to 
return U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000 
largely through voluntary domestic actions. Recognizing the enormous 
potential for cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions in 
other countries, the Administration also called for a pilot program--
the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation (USIJI)--to help establish 
an empirical basis for considering approaches to joint implementation 
internationally and thus help realize the potential of joint 
implementation both to combat the threat of global climate change and 
to promote sustainable development.
    Department of State Public Notice 1918 (58 FR 66057-66059, December 
17, 1993) set forth the draft Groundrules for the U.S. Initiative on 
Joint Implementation as directed by the President in the U.S. Climate 
Change Action Plan, to provide for the operation of a pilot program. In 
this notice, interested parties were invited to provide comment on the 
draft Groundrules. Following the public comment period, Department of 
State Public Notice 2015 (59 FR 28442-28446, June 1, 1994) published 
the revised final Groundrules for the United States Initiative on Joint 
Implementation, together with a summary of the response to comments on 
the draft Groundrules.
    USIJI is the first and currently most developed joint 
implementation pilot program worldwide. Through fiscal year 1996, USIJI 
had received 51 proposals from 23 countries for projects which were 
designed to reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gases utilizing a 
diverse set of technologies, including renewable, fuel switching, 
energy, efficiency, methane recovery, and land-use related 
technologies. Of these, the eight-member federal agency Evaluation 
Panel has approved 15 projects representing a diverse set of innovative 
technologies and practices in six countries, including developing 
renewable energy sources such as solar, biomass, and hydroelectric, and 
land-use change projects leading to better forest management, 
reforestation, and afforestation. Project developers estimate that 
these projects will cumulatively reduce nearly 30 million metric tons 
of carbon equivalent. Presently, USIJI activities focus on the 
expansion of the geographic and technological diversity of its project 
portfolio to reinforce further to the international community that 
joint implementation projects can produce real, measurable greenhouse 
gas reductions that provide global environmental benefits while 
providing economic, social, and development benefits to the project 
participants in both the host country and the United States.
    As required by Section II of the Groundrules, an assessment of the 
program has been initiated, including consideration of the criteria 
with which a project must comply to be accepted into the U.S. 
Initiative on Joint Implementation. In support of this assessment, 
interested parties are invited to provide their comments on any aspect 
of the pilot program, e.g., suggestions to improve certain elements of 
the program, identification of those elements of the program which 
parties have been found to be of value, and, areas which should 
possibly be strengthened. Comments will be made available to the 
public.

PUBLIC COMMENT: Written comments on any aspect of the pilot program, 
including the criteria, are invited. Comments should be submitted to 
the Department of State no later than January 24, 1997. Comments or 
questions should be directed to: Mr. Daniel A. Reifsnyder, Director, 
Office of Global Change, OES/EGC, Room 4330, Department of State, 2201 
C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20520-7818, (202) 649-4069, facsimile 
(202) 647-0191. Comments may also be submitted via electronic mail 
using the following address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For the convenience of the reader, the final 
Groundrules as published in the Federal Register on June 1, 1994, are 
reprinted below.

Groundrules

    The following describes the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation 
(USIJI), which shall be established as a pilot program.

Section I--Purpose

    The purpose of the pilot program shall be to:
    (1) Encourage the rapid development and implementation of 
cooperative, mutually voluntary, cost-effective projects between U.S. 
and foreign partners aimed at reducing or sequestering emissions of 
greenhouse gases, particularly projects promoting technology 
cooperation with and sustainable development in developing countries 
and countries with economies in transition to market economies;
    (2) Promote a broad range of cooperative, mutually voluntary 
projects to test and evaluate methodologies for measuring, tracking and 
verifying costs and benefits;
    (3) Establish an empirical basis to contribute to the formulation 
of international criteria for joint implementation;
    (4) Encourage private sector investment and innovation in the 
development and dissemination of technologies for reducing or 
sequestering emissions of greenhouse gases; and
    (5) Encourage participating countries to adopt more complete 
climate action programs, including national inventories, baselines, 
policies and measures, and appropriate specific commitments.

Section II--Evaluation and Reassessment of Pilot Program

    The pilot program shall be evaluated and reassessed within two 
years of its inception or within six months of adoption of 
international criteria for joint implementation by the Conference of 
the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 
Change, whichever is earlier.

Section III--Eligible Participants

    A. Domestic.
    (1) Any U.S. citizen or resident alien;
    (2) Any company, organization or entity incorporated under or 
recognized by the laws of the United States, or group thereof; or
    (3) Any U.S. federal, state or local government entity.

[[Page 59481]]

    B. Foreign.
    (1) Any country that has signed, ratified or acceded to the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
    (2) Any citizen or resident alien of a country identified in B(1) 
of this section;
    (3) Any company, organization or entity incorporated under or 
recognized by the laws of a country identified in B(1) of this section, 
or group thereof; or
    (4) Any national, provincial, state, or local government entity of 
a country identified in B(1) of this section.

Section IV--Evaluation Panel

    A. An Evaluation Panel is hereby established.
    B. The Evaluation Panel shall consist of eight members, of whom:
    (1) One shall be an employee of the Department of Energy, who shall 
serve as Co-Chair;
    (2) One shall be an employee of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, who shall serve as Co-Chair;
    (3) One shall be an employee of the Agency for International 
Development;
    (4) One shall be an employee of the Department of Agriculture;
    (5) One shall be an employee of the Department of Commerce;
    (6) One shall be an employee of the Department of Interior;
    (7) One shall be an employee of the Department of State; and
    (8) One shall be an employee of the Department of the Treasury.
    C. The Panel shall be responsible for:
    (1) Advising and assisting prospective U.S. and foreign 
participants on the technical parameters (including with respect to 
baselines, measuring and tracking) of projects submitted for inclusion 
in the USIJI;
    (2) Accepting project submissions from eligible U.S. participants 
and their foreign partners;
    (3) Reviewing and evaluating project submissions, including 
baseline projections;
    (4) Approving or rejecting project submissions for inclusion in the 
USIJI, based on criteria contained in section V;
    (5) Providing written reasons for its decisions, which shall be 
made publicly available, within 90 days of receipt of a complete 
submission or resubmission;
    (6) Certifying emissions reduced or sequestered estimated to result 
from projects;
    (7) Developing operational modalities for the implementation of the 
Program; and
    (8) Preparing an annual report of its activities, including a 
summary of approved projects.

Section V--Criteria

    A. To be included in the USIJI, the Evaluation Panel must find that 
a project submission:
    (1) Is acceptable to the government of the host country;
    (2) Involves specific measures to reduce or sequester greenhouse 
gas emissions initiated as the result of the U.S. Initiative on Joint 
Implementation, or in reasonable anticipation thereof;
    (3) Provides data and methodological information sufficient to 
establish a baseline of current and future greenhouse gas emissions.
    (1) In the absence of the specific measures referred to in A.(2) of 
this section;
    (b) As the result of the specific measures referred to in A.(2) of 
this section;
    (4) Will reduce or sequester greenhouse gas emissions beyond those 
referred to in A.(3)(a) of this section, and if federally funded, is or 
will be undertaken with funds in excess of those available for such 
activities in fiscal year 1993;
    (5) Contains adequate provisions for tracking the greenhouse gas 
emissions reduced or sequestered resulting from the project, and on a 
periodic basis, for modifying such estimates and for comparing actual 
results with those originally projected;
    (6) Contains adequate provisions for external verification of the 
greenhouse gas emissions reduced or sequestered by the project;
    (7) Identifies any associated non-greenhouse gas environmental 
impacts/benefits;
    (8) Provides adequate assurance that greenhouse gas emissions 
reduced or sequestered over time will not be lost or reversed; and
    (9) Provides for annual reports to the Evaluation Panel on the 
emissions reduced or sequestered, and on the share of such emissions 
attributed to each of the participants, domestic and foreign, pursuant 
to the terms of voluntary agreements among project participants.
    B. In determining whether to include projects under the USIJI, the 
Evaluation Panel shall also consider:
    (1) The potential for the project to lead to changes in greenhouse 
gas emissions elsewhere;
    (2) The potential positive and negative effects of the project 
apart from its effect on greenhouse gas emissions reduced or 
sequestered;
    (3) Whether the U.S. participants are emitters of greenhouse gases 
within the United States and, if so, whether they are taking measures 
to reduce or sequester such emissions; and
    (4) Whether efforts are underway within the host country to ratify 
or accede to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 
to develop a national inventory and/or baseline of greenhouse gas 
emissions by sources and removals by sinks, and whether the host 
country is taking measures to reduce its emissions and enhance its 
sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases.
Michael Metelits,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Environment and 
Development, Bureau of Ocean and International Environmental and 
Scientific Affairs.
[FR Doc. 96-29838 Filed 11-21-96; 8:45 am]
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