MechTech June 2016 Final

Mechanical Technology — June 2016

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Sustainable energy and energy management

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t is not well known that many of the

burdens of carbon offset schemes

have been significantly reduced

through innovations in recent years,

through mechanisms designed to reduce

the barriers in accessing carbon finance

while maintaining the credibility of the

programmes and the integrity of the

carbon credits generated.

A report produced by Promethium

Carbon on fast-tracking low carbon de-

velopment in SA, funded by the British

High Commission in Pretoria, supports

the unlocking of low carbon investment

in South Africa in line with the National

Development Plan.

The unique carbon tax and offset

scheme proposed for South Africa allows

for carbon offsets to be used to mitigate

a firm’s carbon tax liability. Projects that

qualify to generate credits for the scheme

must use an internationally recognised

programme approved by the government

and must be implemented inside the

borders of the country and comply with

the stated eligibility.

The research focuses on the stream-

lining of administrative processes to be

followed to obtain carbon finance. It also

addresses the removal of barriers faced

by smaller projects.

Carbon finance is linked to specific

carbon programmes such as the Clean

Development Mechanism (CDM), Verified

Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Gold

Standard (GS). The programmes pro-

posed for the South African carbon offset

scheme have a reputation of having large

administrative burdens. In many cases

this is deserved.

It is however not that well known

that many of these burdens have been

significantly reduced through innova-

tions in recent years, designed to reduce

the barriers in accessing carbon finance

while maintaining the credibility of the

programmes and the integrity of the

carbon credits generated.

Reducing costs and administra-

tive burdens have been key areas of

development for many international

offset programmes. Examples include

Fast-tracking

low carbon development in SA

Low carbon development in underdeveloped regions in South Africa will not only assist in reducing extreme poverty in these regions, but also help to reduce

migration of vulnerable people from these areas.

Photo: Kilowatts for Humanity, Zambia.

Harmke Immink (left), a director of the carbon advisory

firm, Promethium Carbon, discusses the findings of a

report into low carbon development, which supports

the unlocking of low carbon investments in line with

the National Development Plan (NDP).

the recent developments of standardised

baselines in the CDM and the develop-

ment of positive lists in the VCS. These

developments are aimed at accelerating

access, specifically for smaller projects,

to potential sources of carbon finance.

Many of the innovations in carbon-off-

set programmes require action from the

government of the country in which the

programmes are implemented. Examples

include certain submissions that need

to be made by the Designated National

Authority of a country to utilise certain

provisions for automatic additionality

under the CDM.

Additionality is the effect of the offset

project activity to reduce anthropogenic

greenhouse gas emissions below the level

that would have occurred in the absence

of the project activity. It is also defined as

whether an emissions reduction project

would have occurred in the absence of

incentives, such as a payment for emis-

sions reductions.

The baseline scenario is the scenario

for an offset project activity that reason-

ably represents the anthropogenic emis-

sions that would occur in the absence

of the proposed project activity. The

baseline emissions are the greenhouse

gas emissions that would occur in the

baseline scenario.

Carbon offset programmes are