Belmopan, Belize; October 21, 2020. – Mr Derrick Oderson of Barbados was elected Vice Chairman of the Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee (JISC) of the Kyoto Protocol at its 43rd session held on Friday, 16 October 2020. Ms Vanessa Leonardi of Italy was elected as the Chair. The JISC approves submissions, determinations and verifications of joint implementation projects among developed countries which are parties to the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Joint implementation is one of the three flexibility mechanisms established to assist developed countries to meet their obligations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. The other mechanisms are the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and emission trading.
The second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends on 31 December 2020 and there is no intention for a third commitment period. A new cooperative mechanism is being finalized for the Paris Agreement which will include both market and non-market mechanisms akin to the flexibility mechanisms of Kyoto. Countries that are especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change and sea level rise such as Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are ensuring that the mechanisms under the Paris Agreement are more stringent than those under the Kyoto Protocol so that the target to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level is achieved. Caribbean scientists have ascertained that the 1.5-degree target is at the threshold of the region’s adaptive capacity. Warming above that level could result in irreversible damage to the region’s ecosystems and natural resources upon which the economic sectors such as agriculture, fishing and tourism depend.
JISC 43 reviewed project activity among parties, the state of the carbon market including that being developed for international aviation, and implications of the Doha Amendment to the protocol which will come into force on 31 December 2020, the same day the second commitment period ends.
Mr Oderson was elected to the JISC at COP 25 in Madrid, Spain last December, nominated by SIDS. Mr Carlos Fuller of Belize, International Liaison Officer at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), is an alternate member of the JISC, representing the Latin American and Caribbean constituency. JISC 43 like most international meetings this year was held virtually, the fourth consecutive year that the JISC has met in this format. The report of JISC 43 will be submitted to the CMA, the governing body of the Kyoto Protocol when it convenes in Glasgow, Scotland next year.
For more information on the documents considered at the meeting, see https://ji.unfccc.int/MeetingInfo/DB/0Q9AMEZHR2JFDXS/view