Publication:
Digital Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification Systems and Their Application in Future Carbon Markets

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (13.59 MB)
2,638 downloads
English Text (229.68 KB)
163 downloads
Published
2022-05-31
ISSN
Date
2022-07-05
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
International carbon markets under the Paris Agreement are significantly different from those under the Kyoto Protocol. Under the Kyoto Protocol, only developed countries had greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets, and the protocol defined how carbon units could be traded across countries under international market mechanisms, such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). By contrast, under the Paris Agreement both developed and developing countries are required to submit GHG mitigation goals as part of their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). The purpose of this technical report is to illustrate the need for digital monitoring, reporting, and verification (D-MRV) systems to underpin future carbon markets under the goals of the Paris Agreement by discussing the available technologies and barriers to their adoption. It includes guidelines, tools, and lessons learned to promote the use of these systems and emerging technologies. Section 1 of the report makes the case for transitioning from a conventional monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system to a D-MRV system. It also examines the resources needed to develop and implement a D-MRV system, and what an enabling policy and regulatory environment for D-MRV systems might look like. Finally, it suggests a tool for assessing whether a parameter can beneficially be monitored and reported under a D-MRV system.Section 2 offers case studies from across the world demonstrating how D-MRV systems can be used to monitor, report, and verify mitigation actions and greenhouse gas inventories linked to forestry and land-use projects, household and rural renewable energy projects, and even waste-to-energy projects. The case studies include lessons learned and best practices for developing, implementing, and managing a D-MRV system.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2022. Digital Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification Systems and Their Application in Future Carbon Markets. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37622 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Carbon Markets Under the Kyoto Protocol
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-12-19) World Bank
    This working paper commissioned by the World Bank Carbon Markets and Innovation Practice (GCCMI) critically examines experience with carbon markets under the Kyoto protocol. The de facto end of the Kyoto Protocol and heralding of the Paris Agreement era has created the space for critical evaluation of trading carbon assets. The Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement diverge markedly in scope, centralization, and logic. As a result, the Article 6 carbon market mechanisms that emerge under Paris are likely to be very different to those that emerged under Kyoto. Nonetheless, experience with carbon markets under the Kyoto Protocol remains informative. This paper argues that there is still an economic and political rationale for trading carbon assets across borders. Trade in carbon assets can help reduce the costs of mitigation and facilitate emissions abatement at least-cost locations. When designed well, carbon market mechanisms can also facilitate learning, mobilize the private sector, and encourage transparency of mitigation efforts. Crucially, carbon markets could help support the operating logic of the Paris Agreement by binding signatories together and enhancing collective ambition. However, done badly, linking emissions systems could entail some risks to environmental integrity. In addition, given continued delays to the clarification of Article 6 and the need for strong action now, countries should not wait to implement effective domestic mitigation instruments such as carbon.
  • Publication
    Emissions Trading Registries
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-10) Partnership for Market Readiness; Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
    The issues around the environmental integrity of international market mechanisms have gained a great deal of attention in the wake of the Paris Agreement. In addition, with the agreement on market-based measures for international aviation being reached, these issues are likely to gain even more prominence in countries’ efforts to prepare for the implementation of international market mechanisms. In a context where inaccurate accounting is one of the environmental integrity risks associated with market mechanisms, an emissions trading registry is critical for avoiding “double counting”—the situation where a single GHG emission reduction or removal is used more than once to demonstrate compliance with mitigation targets. An emissions trading registry is an online database that issues, records, and tracks the carbon units that are exchanged within market mechanisms or financed through Results-Based Climate Finance programs. Given the length of time and capacity needed for the development of a registry, it is essential for countries that are in the process of designing market mechanisms to factor in specific regulatory, administrative, functional, and technical aspects of registry development. Against this backdrop, and to further facilitate future registry design and implementation, this report provides policy makers and other stakeholders with technical insights and guidance on how to support country-specific decision making and activities related to registry development.
  • Publication
    Carbon Markets, Institutions, Policies, and Research
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-10) Ambrosi, Philippe; Larson, Donald F.; Dinar, Ariel; Rahman, Shaikh Mahfuzur; Entler, Rebecca
    The scale of investment needed to slow greenhouse gas emissions is larger than governments can manage through transfers. Therefore, climate change policies rely heavily on markets and private capital. This is especially true in the case of the Kyoto Protocol with its provisions for trade and investment in joint projects. This paper describes institutions and policies important for new carbon markets and explains their origins. Research efforts that explore conceptual aspects of current policy are surveyed along with empirical studies that make predictions about how carbon markets will work and perform. The authors summarize early investment and price outcomes from newly formed markets and point out areas where markets have preformed as predicted and areas where markets remain incomplete. Overall the scale of carbon-market investment planned exceeds earlier expectations, but the geographic dispersion of investment is uneven and important opportunities for abatement remain untapped in some sectors, indicating a need for additional research on how investment markets work. How best to promote the development and deployment of new technologies is another promising area for study identified in the paper.
  • Publication
    Developing Monitoring and Evaluation Systems for the National Climate Change and Low Carbon Green Growth Strategy and Action Plan in Romania
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-11) World Bank
    In support of the Climate Change and Low Carbon Green Growth Program of Romania (LCGGP), the World Bank has prepared the current report with the aim of helping the Romanian Government to operationalize the strategic path chosen by the country for implementing its National Climate Change and Low Carbon Green Growth Strategy 2016-20302 (NSCC) and the associated 2016-2020 Action Plan for Climate Change (APCC). This includes some relevant institutional arrangements and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) activities for existing Climate Change (CC) related policies and measures, notably those derived from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, plus the requirements for European Union (EU) Member States regarding the monitoring and evaluation of the EU-level climate and energy package and the Europe 2020 goals for a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It was recommended that the Romanian government should build upon current obligations for M&E of public policies, whilst recognizing that the M&E system initially established for the NSCC and APCC for Romania must not be considered as static, but rather as an on-going continuum that will evolve, expand and improve over time. The report highlights some key weaknesses in institutional capacity for CC-related M&E and identifies several sector-specific examples of areas for improvement. The report usefully reviews international good practices for the M&E of CC strategies and action plans under the headings of General good practice; Green Growth good practices; Special considerations for CC adaptation (including the selection of indicators), and; European examples (including short case studies on relevant M&E practices from Germany and France). In order to facilitate the necessary learning processes for policy-makers and other key stakeholders it is recommended that the Romanian government adopts a “theory-based” approach (in conjunction with the OECD DAC criteria) as the evaluation framework for the NSCC and APCC. The theory-based approach follows an iterative process of design, evaluation, and redesign based on lessons learned about whether specific interventions are successful or not, why they succeeded or failed and how they can be improved. The report concludes with numerous additional practical recommendations for development of a simple, affordable and cost effective M&E system for the NSCC and APCC. These recommendations are grouped into four categories: (i) general recommendations; (ii) recommendations for improving institutional arrangements; (iii) recommendations for developing a solid evaluation framework; and (iv) recommendations for reporting. Finally, to ensure a robust framework, the M&E and Reporting system should clearly define goals, indicators, responsibilities and communication strategies. It should facilitate continuous learning by policy-makers and other key stakeholders in order to underpin the long-term development of the knowledge and understanding needed to better design, implement and deliver future CC strategies and action plans for Romania.
  • Publication
    Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions through Joint Implementation of Projects
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-06) Martin, Will
    Efficient reduction of carbon dioxide emissions requires coordination of international efforts. Approaches proposed include carbon taxes, emission quotas, and jointly implemented energy projects. To reduce emissions efficiently, requires equalizing the marginal costs of reduction between countries. The apparently large differentials between the costs of reducing emissions in industrial and developing countries, implies a great potential for lowering the costs of reducing emissions by focusing on projects in developing countries. Most proposals for joint implementation of energy projects emphasize installing more technically efficient capital equipment, to allow reductions in energy use for any given mix of input, and output. But such increases in efficiency are likely to have potentially important second-round impacts: 1) Lowering the relative effective price of specific energy products. 2) Lowering the price of energy relative to other inputs. 3) Lowering the price of energy-intensive products relative to other products. The author explores the consequences of these second-round impacts, and suggests ways to deal with them in practical joint-implementation projects. For example, the direct impact of reducing the effective price of a fuel is to increase consumption of that fuel. Generally, substitution effects also reduce the use of other fuels, and the emissions generated from them. If the fuel whose efficiency is being improved, is already the least emission-intensive, the combined impact of these price changes is less likely to be favorable, and may even increase emissions. In the example the author uses, increase in coal use efficiency was completely ineffective in reducing emissions, because it resulted in emission-intensive coal being substituted for less polluting oil and gas.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Urban and Rural Municipal Solid Waste in China and the Circular Economy
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04) World Bank Group
    This paper lists several opportunities for China to advance MSW policies and practices. In addition to building on lessons learned from countries with decades of experience in implementing separation at source programs, including lessons on dealing with the informal sector, China’s extended responsibility systems (EPR) for different waste streams including packaging waste could be tested locally and if successful, could then be prioritized. EPR schemes could be used to introduce incentives for eco-design, create a sustainable production and consumption pattern, reduce landfilling and develop recycling and recovery channels. China could also more comprehensively test the regional approach for service delivery especially for underserved county and rural areas. There is an opportunity to deepen urban-rural integration enhance economies of scale, and improve efficiency through regional integration in waste service provision. This would not only improve the quality of service provision but support financial sustainability and help offset some of the increased financial costs for circularity. Ensuring sustainable operational financing is important to provide for public-private partnerships, a stated priority of the government; sustain earlier and current investments; and permit future development of facilities.
  • Publication
    Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05) World Bank
    Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time. The digital sector has become a powerhouse of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Value added in the IT services sector grew at 8 percent annually during 2000–22, nearly twice as fast as the global economy. Employment growth in IT services reached 7 percent annually, six times higher than total employment growth. The diffusion and adoption of digital technologies are just as critical as their invention. Digital uptake has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1.5 billion new internet users added from 2018 to 2022. The share of firms investing in digital solutions around the world has more than doubled from 2020 to 2022. Low-income countries, vulnerable populations, and small firms, however, have been falling behind, while transformative digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) have been accelerating in higher-income countries. Although more than 90 percent of the population in high-income countries was online in 2022, only one in four people in low-income countries used the internet, and the speed of their connection was typically only a small fraction of that in wealthier countries. As businesses in technologically advanced countries integrate generative AI into their products and services, less than half of the businesses in many low- and middle-income countries have an internet connection. The growing digital divide is exacerbating the poverty and productivity gaps between richer and poorer economies. The Digital Progress and Trends Report series will track global digitalization progress and highlight policy trends, debates, and implications for low- and middle-income countries. The series adds to the global efforts to study the progress and trends of digitalization in two main ways: · By compiling, curating, and analyzing data from diverse sources to present a comprehensive picture of digitalization in low- and middle-income countries, including in-depth analyses on understudied topics. · By developing insights on policy opportunities, challenges, and debates and reflecting the perspectives of various stakeholders and the World Bank’s operational experiences. This report, the first in the series, aims to inform evidence-based policy making and motivate action among internal and external audiences and stakeholders. The report will bring global attention to high-performing countries that have valuable experience to share as well as to areas where efforts will need to be redoubled.
  • Publication
    Municipal Solid Waste Cost Calculation Technical Guidelines for Low and Middle-Income Countries
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-04-01) World Bank
    Municipal Solid Waste Cost Calculation Technical Guidelines discusses good practices for calculating investment and operating costs in the solid waste management sector illustrated through notional cost calculations for waste management functions and a combined waste management system. The report emphasizes the need to accurately determine the full costs of municipal waste services to establish recurrent financing needs and plan new investments. The publication aims to impress that funding annual operating expenses, typically higher than the annualized capital costs of investments and the single most important factor for sustaining waste operations, needs to be a key area of attention for local authorities. It emphasizes that the waste management sector is principally a net cost activity that requires financing; while investments in advanced treatment facilities and processes bring higher environmental and economic benefits, they also incur higher financial costs and hence revenue requirements. The publication aims to support the work of technical departments within municipalities that inform, advise, and guide their municipal councils and policy makers. The guidelines were developed with consideration of the state of the sector and its development trajectory in low, and middle-income countries.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.
  • Publication
    Behavior Change in Solid Waste Management
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-25) World Bank
    Today the world faces unprecedented challenges in waste management while the state of the municipal waste management sector globally is a matter of concern. To reverse current trends related to waste generation, pollution, and resource management, active collaboration between the various waste actors including governments, civil society, and the private sector will be required along with sustained behavior change. This compendium is designed to help decision-makers - including policy makers, policy professionals, and practitioners-investigate, understand, and respond to waste management challenges in their communities through interventions considering a behavioral science lens. The document contains short case studies that uncover and highlight where and what behavioral tools were applied along three main challenges, that is, getting people to generate less waste, getting people to use waste services, and getting people to be more sustainable with their waste.