Jamaica’s CDM Experience
and NAMA Prospects
Gerald Lindo
Ministry of Water, Land, Environment
and Climate Change (MWLECC)
Jamaica
The Country Context:
Small, Vulnerable, Lots of Potential
• Small island state
– High vulnerability to
climate change
• Energy import dependent
– 91% of energy overall
and 94% of electricity
fossil fuel based (HFO,
Diesel)
– Mitigation potential low,
but mitigation options
have excellent economics
• Heavily indebted, weak
growth
Bullish on CDM…
• The strong impression among policy makers that
there were good financing opportunities in
“carbon credits”
• Rush of project submissions between 2004-2008
• Policies were built with CDM opportunities in
mind
– Aug 2008- National Carbon Emissions Trading Policy
• Halt to new project registration
– Sep 2008 - Policy Task Force formed @ Ministry of Energy and Mining
– Draft Carbon Trading Policy prepared June 2009
– Energy and sub-policies integrated CC considerations
• Gov’t hired a CDM consultant who was made
available to the private sector
… until the carbon market bust!
• PoA for utility company designed but
abandoned
• Over 20 project submissions led to only 2
projects following through – both by Gov’t
entity
• Locked out of ETS, leading to uncertainty
• Draft Carbon Trading Policy in limbo
Wigton Wind Farm
• Two projects from 2 expansion phases
– Ref: 0239, 5522
– Total reductions of 52540 and 40348 T CO2e / year
• ER purchase agreement with CAF ended 2012
• Challenge: making verification of latest CERs
worth the transaction costs
– Possibilities: Gold Standard; working through Bunge
Emissions Holdings
The lessons: better C prices, capacity,
lower transaction costs desired
• Emission reductions projects still have good returns,
but benefits of CDM usually marginal to bottom line
• Transaction costs high
– Exacerbated by lack of local capacity (all steps of project
cycle require importation of expertise)
• Lack of investor confidence in CDM still needs to be
overcome
• Policy missteps?
Good news: the fundamental economics and benefits of
energy projects that reduce emissions have not changed
-US$50
Wind
Hydro
-US$150
Bagasse
-US$100
Solar
$/tCO2e
US$0
Waste to energy
Marginal Abatement Cost Curve for Renewable Energy
Generation in Jamaica (2015-2030)
-US$200
Thousands of tCO2e saved/year
-US$250
0
100
200
300
400
500
1st NAMA(s) will be RE focused
• Draft NAMA prepared in collaboration with
OLADE: “Jamaica Renewable Energy Support
Programme”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pre-existing policy target: 20% of energy from RE by 2030
Analysis of vision, policies, action plans
Barrier analysis
Institutional assessment
EMISSION REDUCTION ANALYSIS
MRV
• Finalization by end of Q4, 2014
NAMAs = mitigation + development +
adaptation = Resilience
• Jamaica has a unique opportunity, inasmuch as
ANY energy sector reform will likely reduce
energy costs while giving SD benefits!
– Lower costs
– Increased competitiveness
… which equals RESILIENCE!
CDM’s structure and methods brings a discipline and
robustness to projects and programmes, which can
help us get the help we need
How about a RAMA?
• To overcome capacity
and scale issues, Jamaica
is contemplating uniting
with regional partners to
create Regionally
Appropriate Mitigation
Actions
– Sharing expertise
– Larger programmes more
attractive to investors,
and have lower
transaction costs (same
rationale for PoAs)
Thank you!
gerald.lindo@mwlecc.gov
gerry.lindo@gmail.com
@geraldlindo