CEEC

Central and Eastern European Countries

Central and Eastern European Countries within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

The Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) are fully integrated in the shaping of an international action to combat climate change. Despite several political and economic changes these countries have faced from the beginning of the nineties, a general awareness concerning global warming among policy makers and the public opinion has considerably raised in the recent past. These states are now legally and politically committed to the international treaties on climate change and they are called to play a dominant role especially after their accession to the European Union. All new EU member countries have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and are Annex I Parties . Annex I countries are the ones which have committed themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2000 to 1990 levels as prescribed by article 4.2 of the UNFCCC. They are the OECD countries excluding Mexico, together with the designated Economies in Transition Countries and Turkey.

The new EU member countries have also ratified the Kyoto Protocol and they are indicated as Annex B parties. Parties with quantified emission limitation or reduction commitment, the so-called individual emission targets, are listed in Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol. These are countries included in Annex I to the UNFCCC having assumed legally binding commitments for the period 2008 to 2012 as indicated in article 3.1 of the Kyoto Protocol. Following the expressed intention to complete the ratification process in order to achieve the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol at the World Summit for Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in September 2002 , all CEEC have so far ratified, accessed or approved the Kyoto Protocol (© Leonardo Massei).

The following table presents the total carbon dioxide emissions of CEEC Annex I Parties in 1990 in order to calculate the percentage for the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol.

Table 1: Comparison of Base Period GHG Emission (CO2, N2O, CH4 in Gigagrams of CO2 equivalent) with 2004 emission levels.

Country

Base Period

Reduction
Target

Base Period Emission, GgCO₂e/yr

1998 Emission

% Change

Bulgaria

1988

8%

157,090

83,671

-49.0

Czech Republic

1990

8%

189,837

147,777

-25.0

Hungary

1985-87

6%

101,633

82,725

-31.8

Poland

1988

6%

564,286

402,477

-31.2

Romania

1989

8%

264,879

No data

-41.0

Slovenia

1990

8%

19,212

No data

-08.0

Source: UNFCCC (http://ghg.unfccc.int/)

Almost all new EU member countries are below their Kyoto Protocol targets and there could be potential for the so-called "hot air". This term indicates the greenhouse gas emissions reductions attained in 1990 due to economic reasons, mainly the shut down of a large number of industrial plants. Hence, "hot air" represents exactly the extent of the exceeding "emissions" resulting from the difference between the legally binding emission limits set up by the Kyoto Protocol and the business-as-usual emissions trends considered in the period 2008-2012 . It is clear that the "hot air" potential will give these states the possibility to sell emissions reduction units to countries not complying with their commitments once the international trade regime indicated by the Kyoto Protocol will be in force. (© Leonardo Massei).
Most of the industrialized countries have announced not to buy just hot air, but to buy AAUs within Green Investment Schemes. The idea of a Green Investment Scheme is to ear-mark funds generated from the sale of allowances for use in environmentally-related projects. The GIS would be set up by the seller countries, and would operate as a domestic scheme within their climate policy framework, with operational details to be agreed on a bilateral basis between buyer and seller nations. If supported by the international community for its environmental effectiveness, GIS schemes could be broadly relevant to those non EU-accession countries with economies in transition (EITs) that have surplus AAUs (IEA 2003).
Green Investment Schemes are currently being set up in Hungary, Latvia, The Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Rumania and Bulgaria.

Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit organisation with a mission to assist in solving environmental problems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The Center fulfills its mission through encouraging cooperation among non-governmental organisations, governments and businesses, supporting the free exchange of information and promoting public participation in environmental decision-making.
The REC was established in 1990 by the United States, the European Commission and Hungary.

Good Practices in Policies and Measures for Climate Change Mitigation A Central and Eastern European Perspective
© Elena Petkova, George Faraday. 2002
This report examines activities implemented by six economies in transition (EITs) in Central and Eastern Europe to reduce or limit their emissions of greenhouse gases, given the quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives they have assumed under the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention. The report seeks to test a set of criteria for assessing "good practices," within the range of domestic policies, measures and projects for GHG emissions abatement. The conclusions from the six national case studies also identify good.

Czech Republic