GIS Development in Romania Vlad Trusca Head of Climate Change Unit Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development “REC Workshop “Facilitating GIS: first lessons learnt and the way forward” Budapest, 24 April 2008

Overview  GIS – what is happening…  GHG Emissions Trends  GIS Background  GIS Principles  Projects Eligible for GIS Financing  Priority Areas for GIS Projects  GIS Activities…already done  …still to be done

GIS – still not implemented …  Discussing about GIS for more than 5 years  Experience in GIS development and operation is still limited  CDM and JI procedures are very complicated  Still no official agreement (deal) has been made (public) - WHY?  No problem with the eligibility for almost all countries  Different studies available - variety of procedures and structure  Buyer – AAUs; good price (lower than CDM); reliable structure and procedure; environmental credibility → GIS  Seller – funds available; good price (higher than CDM); project selection flexibility; capacity building → GIS (MoE interest)

GIS Background  All eligibility criteria for flexible mechanism already met  Final eligibility from UNFCCC will be received officially on 1 st September 2008 (16 months compliance rule)  Study “Romanian Green Investment Scheme” coordinated by REC and financed by Japanese Special Fund  3 local experts + REC prepared report in cooperation with MoE (views expressed in the report are expert’s only)  Political will to develop GIS  Institutional system ready for GIS (Env.Fund Adm. or PMU)  Legal and procedural systems to be finalized soon

GIS Principles  Simple, reliable and flexible  No need for an international framework or model  GIS should be used bilaterally based on national interests  Different countries – different GIS concepts  More money on GHG emission reduction projects instead of “documents” and “validations” like in JI  Less complicated project approval procedure  No transaction costs related to project approval  Acceptance of different types of projects (co-benefits)  Monitoring of project implementation instead of emissions  Limiting the time delays in the approval process

Projects Eligible for GIS Financing  Hard greening: investments in technology, equipment and activities leading directly to quantifiable GHG emissions reductions: – energy projects: energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste – non-energy projects: forestry, agriculture, transports  Soft greening: capacity-building, awareness raising, education, projects where GHG emissions reductions cannot be quantified: – information dissemination about GIS, project calls – consultancy on climate change activities – training for public authorities experts, education in schools – climate change related seminars and conferences

Priority Areas for GIS Projects  Rehabilitation of district heating systems  Construction of small co-generation installations (non-ETS)  Recovery of methane generated by urban waste landfills  Fuel-switching in energy productive installations (non-ETS)  Reducing non-CO 2 emissions in industrial installations  Energy efficiency in buildings (public and private)  Construction/rehabilitation of renewable energy productive installations (hydro, geoth., wind, solar, biogas, biomass)  Reducing GHG emissions in agriculture and transports  Afforestation and reforestation

GIS Activities…already done  Key principles agreed internally + political will  GIS responsible authority - Ministry of Environment  Necessity of MoUs between Parties + state contracts  Draft Governmental Decision for GIS prepared based on the REC study – under internal negotiations  GIS project approval procedure prepared – to be approved after the GD  Institutional system agreed in principle – 2 easy options  Negotiations already started with different buyers

…still to be done  Adopting the Governmental Decision for GIS establishment  Updating the National Strategy (June 2008)-establishing the amount of AAUs to be traded and indicative price range of AAU  Possibility to trade AAUs to companies (not only with Governments) - still under legal evaluation  Identifying and approving projects with environmental and social benefits and finalizing the database with possible GHG emissions reduction projects (JI & GIS) - great potential also outside EU ETS  Clarify the possible GIS implications to EU ETS - is it possible?  Initialization of the GIS pilot phase during summer 2008

Thank you For further information contact: Vlad Trusca, UNFCCC & JI National Focal Point Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development phone: Website