Joint Implementation (JI)
Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects are both part of the project-based flexible Kyoto mechanisms. They are based on Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol and offer industrial countries the opportunity to reduce greenhouse gases in the host industrial country, as pledged in the Kyoto Protocol. Companies can also participate in JI projects and utilise the certificates issued to them. JI climate projects are only open to countries named in Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol and companies based in those countries.
Criteria for the Participation in JI Projects
It is important for the states involved in JI projects to fulfil the Kyoto mechanism participation criteria, as laid out in the Marrakech Accords. These include:
- Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol
- Calculation of Assigned Amount Units, AAUs, in compliance with Kyoto Protocol Annex B
- Established national system for the evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sinks.
- Established computer-based national registry
- Timely submission of annual emissions inventories
- Submission of additional information on the Assigned Amount
An investor country must fulfil criteria 1 to 6.
To participate in the JI mechanism, a host country must fulfil criteria 1,2 and 4.
A host country that fulfils the above-mentioned criteria 1 to 6 will be authorised to verify the reduction in the output of greenhouse gases or their storage in sinks and to issue the relevant Emission Reduction Units (ERU)s. Furthermore, the host country can to a large extent make its own decisions on how to implement the JI climate project requirements and decide on the stages of the project cycle. This procedure is easier for the states involved and known as JI Track 1.
Where the host country fulfils only criteria 1,2 and 4, the JI project will be supervised by the JI Supervisory Committee (JISC). This is an internationally valid procedure is quite similar to the CDM procedure and known as JI Track 2.
Host countries that fulfil the criteria for track 1 still have the option of choosing track 2.
It is recommended that JI projects be developed along the lines of recognized CDM methodology. The JI Supervisory Committee will issue its own guidelines and regulations on the subject.