Roundtable on Domestic Actions in Major Countries

Resources for the Future COP 9 Activities
December 9-12, 2003
Milan, Italy

In cooperation with:
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)
Ministry for the Environment and Territory
MIT Global Change Forum
Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)

Roundtable on Domestic Actions in Major Countries                                                                           Wednesday, December 10, 2:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Official side event of the Ministry for the Environment and Territory at Padiglione Italia
organized by the FEEM and RFF.

Please check on-site monitors for updated time, location,
and direction information for each event.

Chairs:

• Carlo Carraro, FEEM

• Ray Kopp, Resources for the Future

Participants/Presentations:

• Jean-Charles Hourcade, Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Developpement, France

• Gernot Klepper, Kiel Institute of World Economics, Germany | Domestic Actions in Major Countries Germany

• Alessandro Lanza, FEEM and World Bank, Italy | Roundtable on Domestic Actions in Major Countries

• Richard Morgenstern, Resources for the Future, US | Climate Policy in the United States: Bright and Dark Sides

• Stefan Schleicher, University of Graz and Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Austria | Climate Policy in Austria
  

• Taishi Suguyama, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Japan | Not novel, but not bad: Domestic Implementation in Japan

Description:
The Kyoto Protocol establishes a series of international flexibility measures ­ ET, JI, CDM ­ which enable countries to meet their targets in a flexible, cost-effective way by cooperating on emission reductions across country borders. However, these mechanisms are only meant to assist countries in meeting their emission targets as the protocol specifies that they "shall be supplemental to domestic actions". Given that the rules of the flexibility mechanisms have been negotiated, the main question is to which domestic activities these flexibility mechanisms will be added. Climate policy experts from all over the world give an overview of the major domestic actions currently implemented and forthcoming in the industrialized and developing world. In particular, the strengths and weaknesses of these activities is discussed, endeavouring to draw lessons for future international climate policy.

The motivation for this roundtable is the increase in national programs aimed at greenhouse gas emission reduction which has taken place during the last decade. A number of initiatives have been started in various countries, most notably in different European countries and the US, but also in some major developing nations. Representatives of different countries briefly introduce the main components of the domestic actions in their own country and then discuss the first experiences obtained with respect to the environmental and economic implications of those components. The panel discussion aims to identify the so-called “winning elements” of current domestic actions, in order to make future climate policy more successful.