Global Workshop on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): Delivering Climate Action and Sustainable Development

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Low Emission Capacity Building (LECB) Programme hosted the Global Workshop on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): Delivering Climate Action and Sustainable Development which was held in Brussels, Belgium during the period 13-14 June, 2016. 

Trinidad and Tobago was represented at the Global Workshop  by Mrs. Beverly Khan, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Planning and Development and Mr. Javed Lakhan, Environmental Policy Analyst, Environmental Policy and Planning Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development.

DPS Khan at the head table (second from the left) participating as a panelist on one of the discussions at the Workshop

The two (2) day Workshop focused on collaborating with participants to: 

• formulate a framework for comprehensive NDC implementation;
• sharing of experiences between countries with  respect to planning and implementing          activities to achieve goals set out under NDCs; 
• discussing technical and institutional issues related to implementation and how to address them and; 
• elaborate on the ways NDCs could not only deliver on countries’ commitments to the Paris      Agreement but also be a driving factor toward meeting the global Sustainable Development       Goals (SDGs).

The meeting proved very fruitful, facilitated the conceptualisation of some concrete first steps to drive achievement of NDC goals in Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the first steps identified included increasing public awareness and seeking to create high level political champions within various ministries to ensure that climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emission components are considered at all levels of country planning.

United Nations Climate Change Conference: COP19/CMP9

The Warsaw Climate Change Conference took place from 11 - 22 November, 2013 in Warsaw, Poland. It included the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 19) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 9th session of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 9).

In addition, it included meetings of three subsidiary bodies; the 39th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 39) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 39) and the 3rd part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durham Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2).

Trinidad and Tobago was represented by Mr. Kishan Kumarsingh, Head of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements Unit (MEAU), Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR). Mr. Kumarsingh also served as the co-chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) along with Artur Runge-Metzger of the European Union.

L-R Mr. Runge-Metzger (EU) and Mr. Kumarsingh (MEWR) co-chairs  of the ADP at the UN Climate Change Conference, Warsaw, Poland November, 2013.

Negotiations in Warsaw centred on the implementation of agreements reached at previous meetings, including the work of the ADP. The meeting adopted decisions that are intended to keep governments on a track towards a universal climate agreements in 2015 and also included significant new decisions that will promote the minimisation of emissions from deforestation and on loss and damage.

Trinidad and Tobago's First CDM Project in the Energy Sector!

Trinidad and Tobago’s First Clean Development Mechanism Project  in the energy sector entitled, “Petrotrin Oil Fields Associated Gas Recovery and Utilization Programme of Activity (PoA)” is now officially registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This project, selected in accordance with the UNFCCC and CDM pre-assessment guidelines, is an associated gas recovery and utilization venture proposed by the company’s Exploration and Development Division. The plan, which targets a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, was conceptualised to recover and utilise methane rich natural gas currently vented in the fields. 

Upon successful implementation, this project will allow Petrotrin to earn Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits, which can be sold to developed countries that hold binding emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

This will be the fourth CDM project in the Caribbean. Other projects identified include wind farms in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic and a land fill methane recovery project in Cuba.

>>> Please see link below for further details:

https://cdm.unfccc.int/ProgrammeOfActivities/poa_db/VOJCMND3RBQ0I692KWH8YPT4ESGFZ1/view

 

Developing a national carbon reduction strategy

                        

The Ministry of Housing and Environment (MHE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently began a project aimed at achieving environmentally sustainable development and a low carbon development path through the Elaboration of a Strategy for the Reduction of Carbon Emissions in Trinidad and Tobago.  

Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) is a substantial part of GHGs due to its abundance, but GHGs also include hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆), methane and nitrous oxide. T&T, as the leading Caribbean producer of oil and gas, has relatively significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The development of such energy intensive industries on a small physical land mass, coupled with the high level of urbanization, has created several environmental challenges, including increasing GHG emissions.

However, as a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Trinidad and Tobago is legally bound to contribute to the achievement of the Convention’s main objective: to stabilise GHGs in the atmosphere. As such, three major local industries were identified as potential sources for mitigation of GHG/CO₂ emissions in Trinidad and Tobago through a baseline assessment of a national GHG emissions inventory:

1. Power production
2. Energy / Industrial processes
3. Transport

Consequently, this project to elaborate a strategy for domestic GHG emissions reduction aims to:

• Strengthen the capacity of relevant government ministries and agencies in assessing costs and benefits of sectoral development paths and the selection of low carbon alternatives
• Develop a CO₂ reduction strategy and policy through gap analyses, impact assessments, etc.
• Establish an implementation structure for the CO₂ reduction strategy

On Friday 16^th March 2012, a meeting with the Project Team was held to finalize the duties and responsibilities of the consultants required, as the project moves into the first phase of procurement of both training and technical consultants.