Archives of the
Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

On June 1, the U.S. Department of State issued final ground rules for the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation, coinciding with the start of the International Conference on Joint Implementation near Groningen, The Netherlands.

The U.S. initiative is intended as a pilot program to help establish international criteria for the role joint implementation in meeting requirements of the Framework Convention in Climate Change. It would give credit to parties in one country to carry out projects in another country that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Proposed projects will be evaluated by a panel consisting of eight U.S. government representatives, and must meet a number of requirements to insure that they result in quantifiable reductions in net greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise not occur.

The ground rules are published in the June 1 issue of the Federal Register (pp. 28,442-28,446), and are available from the Office of Global Change, OES/EGC, Rm. 4333, Dept. State, 2201 C St., Washington DC 20520 (202-647-4069). An extensive discussion of the U.S. initiative appears in Energy, Econ. & Clim. Change (pp. 2-5, June). Shorter accounts are in Global Environ. Change Rep. (p. 4, June 10), and the June issue of ClimateWatch, the monthly bulletin of the Global Climate Coalition (1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, S. 1500-N. Tower, Washington DC 20004 (202-637-3158).

The conference in The Netherlands, organized by the Dutch environment ministry, examined the pros and cons of the joint implementation concept and concluded that more test projects are needed. (See Intl. Environ. Rptr., pp. 513-514, June 15.) A Groningen Statement on Joint Implementation, issued at the end of the meeting, says that joint implementation should be a supplement to domestic actions, and sets out other criteria. For information contact Wytze van der Gaast, Stichting IDE, Groningen Univ., Zernike Park 2, 9747 AN Groningen, Neth. (fax: +31 50 634 556).