JISC holds its forty-third meeting

26 October 2020 – The Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee (JISC) held its forty-third meeting in a virtual environment, on 16 October. Joint Implementation – a mechanism established under the Kyoto Protocol to facilitate cooperation between Annex B parties to the Kyoto Protocol to achieve and transfer emission reductions in the form of Emission Reductions Units (ERU) – has been used by some 900+ emission reductions projects since its start. Joint Implementation offers Parties cost-efficient means of fulfilling a part of their obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. Since 2013, issuance of Emission Reduction Units (ERU) from Joint Implementation has not been possible because those units require the entry into force of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. The second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, running from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020 was adopted in 2012 through “the Doha Amendment” to the Kyoto protocol. However, the threshold for entry into legal force of the Amendment (144 Parties), was only achieved on 2 October 2020 so the second commitment period will come into effect on the very last day of the commitment period, i.e. on 31 December 2020. Considering the late ratification of the Doha Amendment it is unclear to what extent there is an interest among parties to use second commitment period ERUs towards the Kyoto protocol Commitments. At its 43rd meeting, the JISC discussed the implications of the entry into force of the Doha Amendment for the operations of Joint Implementation and agreed on the need to better understand the likely activity level for the mechanism in respect of the second commitment period. In order to understand the on-the-ground situation more clearly, the JISC agreed to undertake a process of information gathering through the UNFCCC secretariat. The secretariat will invite Parties with emission reduction targets that have ratified the Doha Amendment to communicate their intended participation in joint implementation under the second commitment period. Furthermore, the JISC also asked the UNFCCC secretariat to analyze the information received from Parties and present it to the JISC at its next meeting. Based on the information, the JISC will also consider if there is a need to make any recommendations to the CMP at its sixteenth session (CMP.16), which will take place in November 2021. Finally, at that meeting, the JISC agreed on its annual report to CMP 16, which covers the period from 18 September 2019 to 16 October 2020, and requested the secretariat to finalize it in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair. Once completed, it will be published on the UNFCCC and JI websites. The JISC continues to conduct its work through cost-effective online means, including electronic consultation, electronic decision-making and virtual participation in meetings in accordance with “ahead of its time” CMP decisions taken in 2016.