Work on the Urban Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a key initiative of the UEA Secretariat to protect the global environment, is progressing well during its second of three research years, holding a Core-Team meeting of experts from various international organizations including UNEP, World Bank, UNFCCC for consultation and seeking to develop a methodology for conducting pilot testing, and addressing other issues. The second year of research will include development of the Urban CDM Framework and Methodology, the proposal of the Carbon Emission Reduction Strategy and Low-Carbon Green City Framework, as well as the development of a methodology for undertaking the Urban CDM Pilot Testing, explained the UEA Secretariat. The project on the development of the Urban CDM, as agreed by attending UEA Member cities at the 2011 UEA Gwangju Summit, is well underway, seeking to build a common framework together with the UEA Secretariat, UNEP and Korea Environment Institute(KEI). The first year of research has already concluded last May, with key results including the Feasibility Study of the Urban CDM reported by UNEP. (see www.unep.org/urban_environment/PDFs/
UNEP_UrbanCDMreport.pdf.) The findings suggest that existing CDMs mainly consist of single projects and therefore have difficulties to act as a carbon finance system in cities in developing countries due to their size and approach. Therefore the Urban CDM is necessary as a new carbon financing system for these cities while greenhouse gas reduction programs are sought at a city level. The second-year research phase, conducted together by UEA Secretariat and KEI, suggests: (1) the development of a framework and methodology of the Urban CDM, (2) implementation of the Carbon Emission Reduction Strategy, (3) development of a framework to build LowCarbon Green Cities, and (4) Pilot Tests of the Urban CDM framework. In addition, for the second year of research, UNEP suggests: (1) the selection of pilot cities, and (2) a series of meetings with international stakeholders (e.g. UNFCCC, World Bank) to conduct CDM activities. The UEA Secretariat, together with UNEP, KEI, and other participating parties will complete the research in the third year, including the completion of the Urban CDM Pilot Tests in UEA member cities, and plans to register the Urban CDM methodology to UNFCCC by 2014.
integrated ToR for enhancing applicability of the Urban CDM, and announce overall results of the first year of research on the Urban CDM. For information, 'Core-Team for developing framework of the Urban
CDM' was set up in order to improve the quality of the Urban CDM framework, following a proposal by Gwangju Mayor Un Tae Kang, Co-chairman of UEA, on his visit to the World Bank in Washington D.C. on last June.
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Fields Carbon Circulation Environmental Pollution Water Resources Waste Land Use Nitrogen & Phosphorus Optional Index
Suggested indices 1. CO2 emission (ton/year), 2. CH4 emission (ton/per capita/year), 3. renewable energy 4. PM10 emission ( g/ ), 5. PM2.5 emission ( g/ ), 6. NOx (ton/per capita/year) 7. SOx (ton/per capita/year), 8. NH3 (ton/per capita/year) 9. water waste per head ( /per capita/year), 10. waste (%/year) 11. total solid waste (ton/per capita/year), 12. rate of solid waste 13. annual artificial area ( /year), 14. nature vegetation area ( /year) 15. redevelopment area restoration ( /year) 16. annual amount of nitrogen load in streams (ton/year), 17. annual amount of phosphorus load in streams (ton/year) 18. city bio-diversity index, 19. water resource effect index
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industries, and forming an environmenteconomy virtuous circle. Figures related with UEA who attended this conference showed a deep interest in the Chairperson s suggestions and shared the view that it would be a very useful tool for development of global environment. Additionally, he visited the World Bank and gave a special lecture on the theme of Cities can save the Earth and held discussions with environmental experts and World Bank representatives. Especially, as a result of these discussions,
the World Bank concurred in setting up a Core-Team to take charge of the the Urban CDM, and so organized groups of experts from UNEP, UNFCCC, World Bank, KEI (Korea Environment Institute), and KRIHS (Korea Research Institute of Human Settlement). The Core-Team achieved the first outcomes after conducting technical reviews on the Terms of Reference(ToR) for the Urban CDM development framework on October 25th.