Second National and Sectoral Capacity Building Workshops for CDM
The Second Round of Capacity Building Workshops for CDM has been completed!
The Ministry of Housing and the Environment announces
the successful completion of the Second National and Sectoral
Capacity Building Workshops for the CDM,
which were conducted on October 27-28th, 2011.
In collaboration with the UNEP Risoe Centre, and with the
cooperation of The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), the
Sectoral Workshop was held on October 27th,
2011 and covered several key issues facing current project
developers.
Mr. Kishan Kumarsingh, Head of the Multilateral Environmental
Agreements Unit (MEAU) of the Ministry, noted that since Trinidad
and Tobago had recently approved its National Climate Change
Policy, the strategic direction of the country is heading toward
pursuing low carbon development pathways and the policy explicity
promotes the use of CDM as a mechanism to support this goal.
Indeed, the government has already begun to explore options for
renewable energy and energy efficieny, and a myriad of incentives
has been initiated to this end, as detailed by Mr. Randy
Maurice of the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs in his
presentation.
Stakeholders were also informed by potential project
developers of their project ideas and its status, including
interested organisations such as the Solid Waste Management Company
Ltd (SWMCOL) for landfill projects, Methanol Holdings (Trinidad)
Limited on an AUM Nitric Acid Plant and the Public Transport
Service Corporation (PTSC) on CNG cars.
>> Above: Group discussion on the feasibility and
interest in CDM in Trinidad and Tobago at the Sectoral
Workshop
Sustrust, the UNEP-contracted local consultants to assist in PIN
and PDD development in Trinidad and Tobago, communicated to the
audience feedback received from the 19 public/private sector
organisations approached to consider developing a CDM project.
However, many pitfalls were identified along the way,
resulting in only 2 organisations formally expressing
interest. Dr Fenhann (UNEP Risoe Centre) and Dr Coto (EMA
S.A.) provided feedback on the presented ideas and addressed
crucial issues relating to PIN and PDD development in areas such as
additionality and validation.
The National Workshop which took place on
October 28th, 2011 targeted a broader cross section of
national stakeholders from the public sector, the private
sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the
Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Planning and the
Economy, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce,
the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Petrotrin)
and the Council of Presidents of the Environment (COPE).
An overview of the project ideas, updated with the input from
the Sectoral Workshop was presented to the audience, along with
similar presentations on the Climate Change Policy and PDD
development and pitfalls. The concept of using a Programme of
Activites (PoA) for the Caribbean Community was broached, with
the rationale being the achievement of economies of scale,
aggregated emissions reductions and support for types of activities
that would not classify as a stand alone project.
>> Above: A cross-section of public/private sector and
NGO stakeholders at the National Workshop on October 28th,
2011
The status of the regulatory and enabling structures for CDM,
such as the project approval committee and process, the
establishment of the Designated National Authority (DNA), and the
investor's guide developments, was also addressed by Mr.
Kumarsingh of the MEAU, which serves as the DNA for Trinidad and
Tobago.
Coming out of these workshops, a deeper understanding of
the CDM process and its challenges has been achieved. Participants
and in particular, interested project developers have been guided
on the way forward for their Project Idea Notes (PINs) and Project
Design Documents (PDDs), and were given recommendations on their
project concepts. In addition, the project consultants have
mapped out the direction to be taken post-II Workshops and will
continue to provide assistance to any interested project
developers.
To access the presentations delivered at the workshops, please
click on the corresponding links below. The prefix 'SW'
denotes presentations specific to the Sectoral Workshop, whereas
'NW' is National Workshop, and 'PI' is Project
Idea. Project ideas that were delivered by Sustrust on behalf of
other organisations were summarized in the presentation: Project
Outlines & Feedback from SW.