China International Conference on the Clean Development Mechanism Thursday, 20 October Opening Address by Mr. Khalid Malik

Transcription

1 China International Conference on the Clean Development Mechanism Thursday, 20 October 2005 Opening Address by Mr. Khalid Malik UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Resident Representative Mr. Jiang Weixin, Vice-Chairman, NDRC Chairman Gao, Director General, Office of the National Coordination Committee on Climate Change Excellencies and distinguished participants, UNDP is pleased to co-host this event with the National Development and Reform Commission, and it is a great pleasure to join you for the opening of this important conference on the role of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in achieving China s sustainable development objectives. On behalf of UNDP, I would like to congratulate NDRC for bringing together such an impressive gathering of both local and international representatives and experts from government, international financial institutions, academia and the private sector. I am sure this conference will highlight the many ways in which the 1

2 development of clean energy will help to improve the quality of life of its citizens and to reduce global Greenhouse Gas emissions. With the Kyoto Protocol coming into effect in 2005, a new international carbon market has now taken shape, and China stands to become a major player. China will soon become the world s largest energy consumer, and with the right actions could also become the world s largest market for CDM investments. As expressed in China s Xiaokang Goals and the UN Millennium Development Goals, energy stands as a fundamental pre-requisite for achieving sustainable patterns of social and economic development. China s national policies embrace this challenge. While China current relies heavily on Greenhouse Gas-intensive energy such as coal, she also plans to increase the share of renewable energy from 4% in 2005 to 16% by 2020, a major challenge requiring large-scale investments. Furthermore, China plans to quadruple GDP by 2020 while only doubling energy consumption, thus requiring a major leap in 2

3 energy efficiency. The CDM serves as an innovative market based approach to reach these goals, helping to attract critical foreign investment and private partnerships for sustainable energy solutions. UNDP & the CDM The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) forecasts that carbon credit demands in OECD countries upto 2012 stand at approximately Billion Metric Tonnes of CO2 equivalent, the amount that will not met through domestic abatement actions within OECD countries. The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) forecasts that China would likely be able to supply more than half of this global demand. However as of today, China accounted for less than 5% of global CDM projects. The role of UNDP China has been to provide technical and financial assistance to establish an enabling environment for the growth of the CDM market in China. By bringing together world leaders in the field, dialogues such as this can help reach this goal. 3

4 Through our CDM Capacity Development programme with NDRC, UNDP has provided assistance to enhance coordination among CDM market participants, to increase partnerships with the private sector, and to develop China s regulatory and policy frameworks for development and execution of CDM projects. A series of CDM trainings have also been provided for government, enterprises, consulting/validating bodies and financiers with certification provided in coal bed methane, renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. UNDP also supports CDM Market Assessments to identify and support the development and submission of priority projects. This included our support to development of China s first-ever CDM project, a Wind-Farm Project in Inner Mongolia Province registered by the CDM Executive Board 26 June, Another result of our support has been the Huainan Coal Mine Methane Utilization project, the world s first-ever CDM submission with methane baseline and monitoring methodology. Through these activities, UNDP aims to facilitate a growth of CDM investment into China, for achieving global targets under the Kyoto Protocol, and for achieving the MDGs and 4

5 China s Xiaokang goals for a well-off society. As China emerges in the global CDM market, UNDP increasingly advocates for linkages between the introduction of new cleaner energy technologies, and the achievement of overall social development goals. As strongly recognized by the Government of China, business as usual is not an option to resolve the urgent social issues facing China s future. There is a need to address these issues in novel ways and the CDM provides an important opportunity to achieve links between achieving local development goals while also addressing the global climate change challenge. To do this, pro-poor and people-centered development policies need to be fully integrated into CDM planning frameworks. Many CDM interventions are in areas that clearly demonstrate that environment and development can be mutually supportive. CDM brings with it the potential to channel funds into community-based initiatives that may be unattractive to traditional investors, but which may have significant beneficial impacts. CDM investments have strong potential to create tangible and important benefits that will increase quality of life in poor 5

6 communities, through improved air quality, increased employment and income, increased access to household energy, etc. Conclusion China may well become the world s largest CDM market in the coming years and this presents a historic opportunity to attract large amounts of foreign investment into sustainable energy initiatives to improve the structure and quality of growth, and improve the quality of life for millions of people. Translation of ideas and concepts into concrete actions and results requires strong commitment and a clear vision - China lacks neither. A major challenge is to make China s emergence in the CDM market a win-win situation for its partners in developed countries and for local communities in China that lack access to sustainable energy supplies. UNDP is fully committed to continue our support to China to increase its share of the CDM market. Through dialogues like today, UNDP seeks to foster greater technical understanding of the issues involved and to facilitate the strategic partnerships needed to 6

7 support this vast and rapidly emerging market. Your development partners stand with you in this process, and I wish China every success to reach its goals. Thank you. 7