Combining Bioenergy with CCS -- IEA

Combining Bioenergy with CCS- Reporting and Accounting for Negative Emissions under UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol is a publication from the International Energy Agency explains that "Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is a carbon reduction technology that offers permanent net removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. This has been termed 'negative carbon dioxide emissions', and offers a significant advantage over other mitigation alternatives, which only decrease the amount of emissions to the atmosphere.

The benefits inherent within this technology are currently receiving increased attention from policy makers. To facilitate the development of appropriate policy incentives, this paper reviews the treatment of 'negative carbon dioxide emissions' under current and planned international carbon accounting frameworks. It finds that, while current frameworks provide limited guidance, proposed and revised guidelines could provide an environmentally sound reporting framework for BECCS.

However, the paper also notes that, as they currently stand, new guidelines do not tackle a critical issue that has implications for all biomass energy systems, namely the overall carbon footprint of biomass production and use. It recommends that, to the best extent possible, all carbon impacts of BECCS are fully reflected in carbon reporting and accounting systems under the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol."

Establishment of an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action -- UN

Establishment of an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action -- Conference of the Parties Seventeenth session Durban, 28 November to 9 December 2011

This agreement sets forth the continuation of the work of the Bali Action Plan developing a road map for future work.

United Nations Climate Change Conference Cancun - COP 16 & CMP 6

The United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010, encompasses the sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP), as well as the thirty-third sessions of both the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), and the fifteenth session of the AWG-KP and thirteenth session of the AWG-LCA.

To discuss future commitments for industrialized countries under the Kyoto Protocol, the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) established a working group in December 2005 called the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP). In Copenhagen, at its fifth session, the CMP requested the AWG-KP to deliver the results of its work for adoption by CMP 6 in Cancun.

Kyoto Protocol Reference Manual on Accounting of Emissions

This Manual produced by the UNFCCC secretariat and dated February 2007 provides "a reference tool to assist Parties included in Annex I to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Annex I Parties) in the implementation of their commitments related to accounting of emissions and assigned amounts under the Kyoto Protocol. In this regard, the manual synthesizes the requirements for Annex I Parties
with respect to:
• National systems for preparation of national inventories;
• National registries;
• Reporting, review and compliance procedures related to the
accounting of emissions and assigned amount;
• Accounting for land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF)
activities;
• Participation in the Kyoto Protocol mechanisms and the procedures
for establishing, maintaining and suspending eligibility; and
• Transactions of Kyoto Protocol units.
This manual does not address methodologies and baselines or procedures for crediting of emission reduction and removal projects under the clean development mechanism or joint implementation. Nor does it provide information on other Kyoto Protocol commitments not directly related to the accounting of Parties’ emissions and assigned amounts, other than what is covered in this introduction.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Poznań, Poland - COP 14

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań opened on Monday, 1 December. The Conference is a milestone on the road to success for the processes which were launched under the Bali Road Map.The meeting comes midway between COP 13 in Bali, which saw the launch of negotiations on strengthened international action on climate change, and COP 15 Copenhagen, at which the negotiations are set to conclude.

The Conference includes the 29th sessions of the Convention’s subsidiary bodies - SBSTA and SBI – as well as the 4th session of the AWG-LCA and the 2nd part of the 6th session of the AWG-KP. Almost eleven thousand participants are attending the Poznań meeting, which will both advance international cooperation on a future climate change regime and ensure progress on key issues.
Provisional agendas and further information