uea newsletter 2 nov2012

7/30/2019 UEA Newsletter 2 Nov2012

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No. 2

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 thedevelopment 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 thatexisting 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 Low-Carbon 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.


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2 Urban EnvironmentalAccords

UEA Secretariat is

targeting UEA membercities to introduce their

best practices . When

member cities submit their

low-carbon policies and

best practices, the UEA

Secretariat will share them

with cities around the

world through newsletters,

UEA website, Urbanization

Knowledge Platform, etc.

The UEA Secretariat hasrequested further

submissions by sending a

letter of request and

application form to each

member city. The main

relevant sectors are

energy, transportation,

water, land use, food,

and construction.

Core Team, a working-group experts

organized to develop the Urban CDM

held a video conference 25 October, and

reviewed Terms of Reference(ToR) on

Urban CDM methodology development.

The Core Team conference, including

representatives from the World Bank and

other international organizations,

conducted technical reviews to improve

the quality of the second year of the

Urban CDM research for UNEP and KEI.Core-Team members include experts

from UNEP, UNFCCC, World Bank,

UN-HABITAT, Korea Environment

Institute(KEI), Korea Research Institute

for Human Settlement(KRIHS) and Dr.

Kwi-Gon Kim, UEA Secretariat General.

The result of this review will be

reflected in the second year research

development of the Urban CDM. The

Core-Team also agreed on having a

workshop in Gwangju in the near futureto further discuss development of the

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 fordeveloping 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 inWashington D.C. on last June.

UEA Secretariat collects

Member Cities eco-friendly best practices

Core-Team video conference discussing the Urban CDMInternational experts review ToR on developing Urban CDM Methodology

The UEA Secretariat opened its website

to reinforce solidarity, and circulate

information with member cities, at

www.ueama.org.The website introduces UEA member

cities and their functions and also

continuously provides updated documents

relating to the Urban CDM and best

practices of worldwide eco-friendly cities.

UEA Website Opened


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UEA NEWSLETTER 3

In accordance with the agreement at the 2011 UEA Gwangju Summit, the Urban Environmental Evaluation Index is to be released

soon, developed by UNEP and KEI during the first research year. The UEA Secretariat announced that this Index will be a valuable

standard to assess the environmental performances of worldwide cities and nominate the candidate cities of Global Low-Carbon

Green City Award to be initially awarded in 2014. The index is composed of 19 indices (see table below) including 17 which cover the

six key sectors including carbon circulation, and two additional optional indices. These have already completed final review by the

international organization's advisory group, a peer-review group consisting international organizations including UNEP, UNFCCC,

UNESCO, UNDP, World Bank, OECD, etc.

Urban Environment Evaluation Index

to be announced

Fields Suggested indices

Carbon Circulation 1. CO2 emission (ton/year), 2. CH4 emission (ton/per capita/year), 3. renewable energy

Environmental Pollution4. 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)

Water Resources 9. water waste per head ( /per capita/year), 10. waste (%/year)

Waste 11. total solid waste (ton/per capita/year), 12. rate of solid waste

Land Use13. annual artificial area ( /year), 14. nature vegetation area ( /year)

15. redevelopment area restoration ( /year)

Nitrogen & Phosphorus16. annual amount of nitrogen load in streams (ton/year),

17. annual amount of phosphorus load in streams (ton/year)

Optional Index 18. city bio-diversity index, 19. water resource effect index

UEAU EA


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4 Urban Environmental Accords

Mr. Un-Tae Kang, Mayor of Gwangju

Metropolitan City and Co-Chief

Commissioner of UEA, gave a keynote

speech at the Global Town Hall of Rio+20

on 18 June titled Cities Can Save the

Earth to officially introduce the Urban

CDM to the worldwide community as an

effective city-level response to

environmental issues.

He said: We must move forward

towards the green dream and put intopractice measures to save our only

residence, planet Earth, from

environmental crisis . He then introduced

the Urban Environmental Evaluation

Index and Urban CDM , valued as the

keys to tackling global climate issues,

which were agreed on at the 2011 UEA

Gwangju Summit and are currently

under development by UEA Secretariat

and UNEP. He further proposed to the

Rio+20 Conference (UNCSD) that theUrban Environmental Evaluation Index

and the Urban CDM to be introduced to

the global society.

At the keynote speech, Mayor Kang

introduced the best practices and policies

of Gwangju to participating city

representatives and the international

society in order to showcase examples of

climate response at a city level. In

particular, the Carbon Bank System, of

which almost half of Gwangju shouseholds participate, was considered

the best model of Green Governance .

Efforts will be made to spread this

system worldwide in sectors of

transportation and green consumption,

and so forth , added Kang. He also

introduced Gwangju s endeavors to

reduce carbon emissions in the areas of

urban planning, land use and traffic

policies, such as the redevelopment of old

buildings to minimize traffic congestion.He then highlighted cities role to

contribute to sustainable development by

promoting and fostering eco-friendly

industries, creating the demand for green

industries, and forming an environment-

economy 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 ofCities 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 UrbanCDM development framework on

October 25th.

Mr. Un-Tae Kang Introduced the Urban CDM at Rio+20Also visited World Bank to promote the Urban CDM

Mayor of Gwangju & Co-Chief Commissioner of UEA

uea newsletter 2 nov2012

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