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Multilateral Organizations

Along with its bilateral activities, the United States works within various multilateral fora to address the problem of global climate change. Numerous organizations have integrated climate-related activities into their operations since the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) entered into force. The United States actively supports this development, recognizing that multilateral efforts are essential to achieve progress on climate change issues.

Owing to its heavy technical and financial responsibilities in many multilateral fora, the U.S. plays a leadership role in advancing climate-related objectives in appropriate organizations. This section describes the U.S. role in, and contributions to, some of the chief financial and policymaking bodies relevant to climate change.

Framework Convention on Climate Change

In the existing Convention framework, the United States has seconded technical experts to the FCCC secretariat to help implement methodological, technical, and technological activities. For example, the United States has:

• Reviewed the national communications of other Parties and assisted with work on the methodologies for inventorying national emissions.
• Sought to ensure that all countries undertake appropriate analyses of their own circumstances prior to action--and then act on these analyses.
• Suggested and, where possible, demonstrated flexible and robust institutional systems through which actions can be taken (such as programs to implement emission reduction activities jointly between Parties, and emission trading programs).
• Used its best diplomatic efforts to prod those in the international community reluctant to act, seeking to convince them that the issue is critical and warrants global attention.

As a result of these efforts, the United States expects the ongoing negotiations will successfully conclude in late 1997, and the successful implementation of both the Convention and the new legal instrument will protect the Earth against the potential hazards of global warming.

Other Relevant Conventions and Agreements

The United States is a party to several international agreements that are also relevant to the control of greenhouse gases or otherwise work to mitigate climate change:

• The 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• The Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and its NO_X Protocol
• The U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement
• The Commission on Sustainable Development
• The Commission on Environmental Cooperation

Global Environment Facility

The GEF was created on a pilot basis in 1991 as a collaborative effort between the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the United Nations Environment Program to finance efforts in developing countries and countries with economies in transition to protect the global environment. Specifically, the GEF helps reduce the threat of climate change, reverse the depletion of the ozone layer, arrest the loss of biodiversity, and protect international waters.

The GEF provides the multilateral framework necessary for managing the global environmental commons. Since no country's actions alone can protect the global environment, countries only have an incentive to act if all other major countries cooperate. Instead of focusing solely on conservation, the GEF has a unique mission--to support efforts by developing countries to redirect their development paths toward pro-environment, pro-growth alternatives.

The GEF underwent an independent evaluation and a fundamental restructuring in 1993, and began full-scale operations in July 1994. The United States has played a leadership role in the restructuring process and subsequent reforms. Achievements include: establishment of a governing body representing all participating countries; development of a clear operational strategy; expedited procedures for national communications support and related enabling activities and for medium-sized projects; observer status for NGOs at GEF meetings, along with public availability of much documentation; strong guidelines for public participation in GEF project preparation and implementation; and a strong monitoring and evaluation framework.

Project Portfolio

To date, the GEF has committed about $1.58 billion for well over two hundred full enabling activities, research, and investment projects. In addition, the GEF has supported over three hundred local projects in over thirty countries through its Small Grants Program. U.S. government agencies, foundations, NGOs, and private firms have been crucial in the development and implementation of numerous climate focal area projects in the portfolio, as well as several currently in the project development pipeline.

Leveraging New Resources

Especially in its climate focal area, the GEF is increasingly successful in leveraging additional financing for sustainable development projects. For example, GEF projects implemented by the World Bank are leveraging $2.7 billion in additional co-financing. Public funds can never be sufficient and, in some cases, can threaten distortions in economic development.

The United States has led the GEF's efforts to engage the private sector in climate change, such as by reducing barriers to the commercial viability of low- or no-greenhouse gas technologies. This may be the GEF's most important function. Success in addressing climate change clearly depends on mobilizing private-sector investment, which is fundamental for the development and proliferation of new technologies. The private sector is far more successful than the government in transferring technologies in an economically sustainable manner.

U.S. Financial Contributions

Aside from project development investments and co-financing by agencies and nongovernmental sources, the United States is the second largest contributor to the Operation Phase to date, with $190 million. The Administration has requested the full U.S. pledge, although Congress has appropriated less than that amount due in part to governmentwide budget deficit-reduction measures that are important to not only the United States but the world economy. Nonetheless, the Administration continues to consider the GEF a high priority and is working with Congress to fulfill its current pledge of $430 million.

Multilateral Development Banks

The multilateral development banks (MDBs) represent a powerful tool for implementing environmental policy goals. The United States has urged the MDBs to reassess the use of their resources with a view toward encouraging sustainable development. Much progress has been made in this area in recent years, as awareness of the interdependency between economic growth and sustainable resources has become widespread.

• The African Development Bank focuses on capacity development in borrowing countries to build up the institutional, statutory, and regulatory frameworks necessary for implementing an integrated least-cost planning approach that encompasses energy supply and efficiency, and the environment. The ADB is also working on developing renewable and alternative energy sources.
• The Asian Development Bank is allocating more resources to focus on energy efficiency and conservation, unconventional energy resource development, and intensified environmental initiatives. Its policies concentrate on moderating energy demand, improving efficiency in resource allocation, and strengthening institutions for national energy-conservation activities, with greater focus on policy analysis.
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's energy operations aim primarily at improving energy efficiency in both supply and demand. To address these aims, the EBRD promotes pricing reform, improved standards for insulation, and the introduction of more energy-efficient technology. Bank assistance will be based on least-cost energy plans or, preferably, an integrated resource planning strategy.
• The Inter-American Development Bank will continue to assist borrowing countries in adopting energy-development strategies that are environmentally sustainable by: (1) elaborating on integrated least-cost energy development plans and, where such plans do not exist, supporting the development of such plans; (2) promoting the efficient use of energy in all economic sectors; and (3) developing and carrying out regional energy integration programs.
• World Bank policy states that energy lending will be based on integrated least-cost energy plans, with emphasis on energy efficiency, demand-side management, and the exploitation of renewable-energy sources. The World Bank is also playing a major role in the GEF, where it is responsible for the majority of GEF investment operations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The United States continues to urge the MDBs to increase their lending for and their staff positions in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency. The United States also encourages the banks to consider the impacts of their lending on global climate through the use of enhanced environmental impact assessments.

International Energy Agency

The IEA is an autonomous body established in 1974, within the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), to cooperate in energy matters and promote energy security. Increasingly, IEA member countries have come to see energy security not only in terms of ensuring an adequate energy supply for themselves, but also in terms of seeing that the worldwide production and use of energy are environmentally sustainable over the long term.

To support its members in their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the IEA is engaged in a growing number of activities related to climate change. These include a series of analytic studies on the interactions between energy and the environment, a Climate Technology Initiative and other agreements for the development and diffusion of climate-friendly technologies, and a long-standing program of multilateral cooperation to develop technologies that use renewable-energy resources, that produce cleaner energy from fossil fuels, and that use energy more efficiently.

Analytic Studies on Energy and Climate Change

The IEA's ongoing study on the Energy Dimensions of Climate Change is identifying the key factors that affect the impacts of energy production and use on emissions of greenhouse gases. Some of the policy options the study is examining are removal of subsidies and price distortions; taxes and charges to raise energy prices; accelerated introduction of lower-carbon and carbon-free technologies; voluntary agreements, standards, and labeling programs; joint implementation; and target-related tradable permits.

The IEA is also engaged in work to better understand the potential contributions that new and improved technologies may be expected to make to climate change mitigation in the transportation, power production, and buildings sectors.

Recently, the IEA and OECD have jointly produced a range of FCCC working papers on policies and measures for common action. These include studies of policies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from road vehicles, reform of coal and electricity subsidies, full-cost pricing in energy markets, carbon and energy taxes, energy-efficiency standards for traded products, finance of energy efficiency in countries with economies in transition, and options for greenhouse gas reduction in agriculture and forestry.

Climate Technology Initiative and Related Agreements

Undertaken by a group of Annex 2 Parties to the FCCC and supported by the IEA and OECD secretariats, the CTI began by taking an inventory of activities in IEA/OECD member countries to promote climate-friendly technologies. This inventory should help to identify future areas for increased cooperation among countries with similar activities, as well as to alert new countries of possibilities for joining work underway. The CTI has since been expanding the scope of its activity through several task forces, with participation from the United States and other member countries.

The United States is taking a leading role in the CTI task force on Energy Technology Networking and Capacity Building, which is engaged in a broad array of activities to make reliable information on climate change technologies more accessible, to develop options for improving information centers and systems on climate change technologies in developing countries, and to support the involvement of experts around the world in achieving these ends.

The United States is also actively involved in the CTI task force on Greenhouse Gas Capture, Removal, and Disposal. The work plan for this group includes cooperative activity on technologies for biological production of hydrogen fuel, chemical fixation and use of carbon dioxide, and land and ocean sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Apart from the CTI, several standing IEA implementing agreements provide for multilateral cooperation on greenhouse gas technologies.

• The Greenhouse Gas Technology Information Initiative (GREENTIE) aims to identify energy technologies that mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and have the potential for international deployment.
• The Center for the Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy Technologies (CADDET) was established to promote the use of available energy-efficiency technologies, but will soon be merged with GREENTIE.
• The Greenhouse Gas R&D Program is conducting full fuel-cycle analyses of conventional and advanced power-generation systems and evaluating novel strategies to reduce CO₂ emissions.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

In 1995-96, the United States contributed $1.3 million to this ministerial-level agreement to promote the economic and social well-being of the Asia-Pacific region. The United States has the lead in the energy efficiency area, which focuses on workshops and seminars on energy-efficient technologies and practices, and develops programs for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions using energy technology. These programs emphasize training and information exchange, analysis of options and mutually agreed technology research and development.

An example of an activity with direct relevance to greenhouse gas abatement is the APEC Joint Multilateral Demonstration Project for the Recovery and Utilization of Coal Mine Gas, being carried out in the People's Republic of China. This is a three-phase effort to identify potential ways to improve environmental performance through expanded coal mine gas demonstration projects. The third phase will involve the design and engineering study for the construction of a demonstration facility.

Nongovernmental Efforts

The U.S. private sector is engaged in many important activities overseas, particularly in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Of equal importance for mitigating the threat of climate change are the efforts of U.S. industry to expand its exports of climate-friendly technologies. The potential for technology transfer from the private sector dwarfs the ability of governments in this field. Following are some examples of U.S. private-sector activities related to climate change; the list is by no means exhaustive.

Edison Electric Institute

EEI is the association of investor-owned electric utilities in the United States. In 1995, it set up a program called International Utility Efficiency Partnerships (IUEP), whose purpose is to identify opportunities to support joint implementation project investment and development activities, and to demonstrate utility commitment to voluntary approaches to global climate issues. IUEP currently has ten projects underway in nine countries, with over $550 million in funding.

With support from fifty-five electric utilities, EEI developed the Utility Forest Carbon Management Program to expand the industry's efforts to manage carbon dioxide through domestic and international forestry projects. The program's goals are to advance the state of knowledge regarding options for managing greenhouse gases via forestry, establish low-cost forestry options to manage greenhouse gases, and implement forestry projects.

The Alliance to Save Energy

Under its Sustainable Cities and other projects, the Alliance promotes energy-efficiency initiatives in Monterrey, Mexico; Kaliningrad, Russia; Lviv, Ukraine; Ghana; India; and China. These initiatives are designed to fit the needs of each region--from promoting municipal energy policy changes, to leading trade missions that foster energy-efficiency awareness, to developing an overseas office.

U.S. Export Council for Renewable Energy

US/ECRE offers training programs through its member trade associations, as well as the Renewable Energy Training Institute. RETI was established to match international requests for education and training with qualified, experienced U.S. instructors and institutions. US/ECRE also facilitates training sessions at multilateral development banks, commercial banks, and private foundations to familiarize them with renewable-energy and energy-efficiency products and services.

Export Council for Energy Efficiency

ECEE is a consortium of five of the country's leading advocates of energy efficiency. Its mission is to expand exports of energy-efficiency products and services by leading trade missions, identifying financing, and connecting U.S. companies with foreign buyers. ECEE and US/ECRE are jointly engaged in an Asia-Pacific Initiative, under which ECEE has, for example, published a market assessment of the opportunities for energy efficiency in Indonesia and organized training workshops in the Philippines.

International Institute for Energy Conservation

IIEC seeks to accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient policies, technologies, and practices in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. It acts as a facilitator between institutions with experience implementing energy-efficiency programs and those institutions in developing countries with the need for such expertise. IIEC is a close partner of both the U.S. Country Studies Program and EPA.

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

For over a decade, ACEEE has worked with Brazil to establish a national electricity conservation program, as well as a National Institute for Energy Efficiency modeled on ACEEE's activities. ~~