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Project developers are concerned that high transaction costs and uncertainty around the acceptance of projects by governing bodies is limiting the number of projects being developed in Africa and around the world. This concern has resulted in an interest in thinking about GHG project development differently. Stakeholders were interested to hear more about the performance standard approach for Land Use, Land-Use change and Forestry (LULUCF) projects at the Nairobi Conference of Parties (COP-12), which provides a methodology for setting a multi-project GHG removal baseline for GHG Projects.
“The performance standard approach, if developed by the governing bodies of a credible GHG program, allows project developers to have two vital pieces of information on hand before developing any project documentation or spending any money - where the GHG project should take place, and what the baseline GHG removals are,” said Florence Daviet during the meeting.
Suzie Greenhalgh added, “This does not mean that the task of developing a LULUCF project for project developers is done. But with these two pieces of information, the project developer will be more confident that by using an approved performance standard, the GHG project will be successful. Meanwhile, the GHG program will be able to direct where and what types of projects it wants to see developed.”
WRI presenters Greenhalgh and Daviet explained the thinking behind the performance standard and in broad terms its application to forestry projects as described in the “Land Use, Land-Use change and Forestry Guidance,” the document launched at the event. Presenters Neil Bird from the Joanneum Institute and Timm Tennigkeit from UNIQUE forestry consultants, discussed where the performance standard could help address at least some of their concerns as project developers, and how they felt the approach could be used in a broader policy context.