UNFCCC SB 28 AND AWG - ENB on the Side - Events convened on Thursday, 12 June 2008
Benito Müller, OIES, UK, highlighted his recent report prepared for the Toyako G8 Summit, entitled International Adaptation Finance – the Need for an Innovative and Strategic Approach.
Bunker fuel emissions, adaptation funding and technology transformation
Presented by OIES
Benito Müller, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), UK, explained how the idea of an International Air Travel Adaptation Levy (IATAL) inspired Stochniol’s International Maritime Emission Reduction Scheme (IMERS), which applies a similar levy for emissions from shipping. He added that as ODA is unlikely to generate necessary adaptation revenues, international money like the CDM levy to the Adaptation Fund, IATAL, and IMERS will be important for offering more predictable, equitable, and appropriate funding.
Andre Stochniol, IMERS, elaborated on the benefits of IMERS, including its ability to annually raise approximately: US$4 billion for adaptation funds in developing countries; US$4 billion for mitigation funds; and US$2 billion for technological improvements in emission efficiency and for new technologies that will have long-term mitigation benefits. He highlighted that: IMERS uses a novel hybrid economic instrument; an aggregated emission goal rather than national targets; and that there are differentiated charges for subsistence and luxury goods. He said a global approach is needed in the maritime sector to avoid trade distortion and ensure competitiveness.
Participants discussed, inter alia: use of JI credits encouraging economies in transition to join; concern that developed countries should be financing adaptation in developing countries, while IMERS transfers some burden to developing countries; how a levy on shipping affects trade, with large impacts on the poor; difficulties in allocating emissions over international waters; differences from the proposed Danish levy; and the possibility of the International Maritime Organization taking on the issue independent of the UNFCCC.
More information:
http://www.oxfordenergy.org
http://www.imers.org
Contacts:
Benito Müller <benito.muller@oxfordenergy.org>
Andre Stochniol <andre@stochniol.com>
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