The Uganda POA is the first of its kind in the world, and promotes solid waste composting in urban areas, a system that, unlike landfills, returns organic matter to the soil, prevents land degradation, and significantly reduces methane emissions. The new program helps Ugandan municipalities set up waste composting facilities that are financially sustainable because of the revenues generated from the sale of both compost and carbon credits. A total of 156,889 Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) and 52,296 Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) will be sold to the World Bank’s Community Development Carbon Fund.

The programme also builds on South-South linkages by harnessing expertise and models of simple composting development in South Asia. And it was designed with the involvement of experts from India, who will also offer monitoring and training support. [World Bank Press Release]

date: 8 September 2010  
venue: Palais des Nations  
location: Geneva (Geneve), Switzerland  
contact: Michalis Adamantiadis or Regina Asariotis  
e-mail: regina.asariotis@unctad.org; michalis.adamantiadis@unece.org  
www: http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp5/wp5_workshop4.html  

dates: 14-18 March 2011  
location: Tunis (Tunis), Tunisia  
contact: CIF Admin Unit  
phone: 1(202) 458-1801  
e-mail: CIFAdminUnit@worldbank.org  
www: http://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/cif/  

On trade and climate change, participants underlined that: the EU and China should increase their cooperation to fight against climate change, with trade being a useful instrument to promote green growth; trade of environmental goods and services should be promoted, in particular wind and hydroelectric turbines, solar-powered boilers, solar panels, seawater desalination plants and wastewater reuse and treatment; and in the framework of WTO negotiations, the EU and China should cooperate to find an agreement to lower tariff barriers, concentrating on reducing obstacles to investment and non-tariff barriers that continue to seriously hamper the spread of environmentally friendly products. [EU Press Release]

The study responds to recommendations formulated at the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable held in the Marshall Islands in 2009, where concern was expressed about the Pacific region’s challenges in accessing available funding, effectively managing and implementing projects under current funding arrangements, and ensuring timely reporting to donors.

The study is expected to assess resources currently available to Pacific island countries for climate change initiatives, and identify likely new funding, in order to guide future national and regional responses and policies, including coordination arrangements. The results of the study will be presented to the SPREP Ministerial Meeting scheduled to take place in Madang, Papua New Guinea, in September 2010. [SPREP Press Release]

The report examines foreign direct investment trends, and proposes a global partnership to synergize investment promotion and climate change mitigation and to galvanize low-carbon investment for sustainable growth and development. The five major components of the proposed partnership are: establishing clean-investment promotion strategies; enabling the dissemination of clean technology; securing international investment agreements’ contribution to climate change mitigation; harmonizing corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disclosure; and setting up an international low-carbon technical assistance center (L-TAC).

Regarding climate change negotiations, the report also notes the current national and international policy frameworks are in flux and do not target private sector and transnational corporation contributions sufficiently and effectively. It stresses that integrating international investment policies into the climate change framework is essential when designing the new post-2012 regime. [The Report]

The grant will be used to support local authorities in creating the policy, regulatory, institutional, financial and monitoring mechanisms for the “eco-city,” which is expected to be home to 350,000 people by 2020. The project will help promote “green transport,” such as public transport, walking tracks and bicycle pathways. It will also support the construction of “green buildings” through the introduction of energy efficient building standards that are higher than the national standard.

Tianjin, China’s third largest city with a population of 11.76 million, is developing the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City in collaboration with the Singapore Government. A Framework Agreement was signed between the two Governments in November 2007. [World Bank Press Release]

The FIP is within the World Bank’s Strategic Climate Fund, a multi-donor Trust Fund within the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds (CIF). The FIP’s overall objective is to mobilize significantly increased funds to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, and to promote sustainable forest management, leading to emission reductions and the protection of carbon reservoirs. Zoellick, who praised President Felipe Calderon for his leadership in climate change issues, said these decisions demonstrate the Bank’s commitment to deepen its support to Mexico’s already extensive climate change programme, especially in light of the upcoming 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP16) to be held in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of 2010. [World Bank Press Release]

The brief explains that, in GEF-5, a separate funding envelope for SFM/REDD+ will be available for countries to invest portions of their allocations from biodiversity, climate change and land degradation toward SFM/REDD+ projects. It further clarifies that all types of forests, ranging from tropical and sub-tropical forests to woodlands, will be eligible for funding under the SFM/REDD+ Program. Country-driven projects that could be financed include: forest policy (re-)formulation; forest protected area creation and management; forest inventory and carbon measurement and monitoring; reduced-impact logging; certification of timber and non-timber forest products; and payment for ecosystem services. [The Brief]

dates: 4-12 November 2010  
venue: World Bank Headquarters  
location: Washington (District of Columbia), United States of America  
contact: CIF  
phone: +1 (202) 458-1801  
e-mail: CIFAdminUnit@worldbank.org  
www: http://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/cif/november_mtgs_2010