Capacity Building
During the last years the Swedish climate policy has become a more international focus. Examples of this are the increased use of the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto protocol and a focus on climate change in development cooperation policies.
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a market based mechanism that enables the implementation of project activities that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in developing countries. So called Certified Emission Reductions (CER) are issued in return for the reductions and can be traded on the global market for emission rights. This way CDM projects give developing countries a possibility to make economic and technical progress at the same time as they reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.
In 1996 the Swedish government passed a bill (prop. 2005/06:127) which emphasised the need to prioritize efforts to support CDM projects in least developed countries. The bill also contains a call for enhanced collaboration between the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Swedish Energy Agency. Following the bill a programme for capacity building in East Africa was initiated. The programme was financed by Sida and implemented by the Swedish Energy Agency in collaboration with counterparts in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
The East Africa programme has a regional character and followed two parallel tracks. The first track aims at institutional capacity building through build awareness and knowledge about CDM among different categories of stakeholders, such as potential project owners, financial and legal institutions and governmental agencies. Information about the aim and implementation of CDM projects was disseminated through for example workshops and seminars.
The second track aims at hands-on work with CDM and its project cycle. Through “learning by doing” potential project developers were trained to compose Project Design Documents (PDD) for CDM projects themselves.
The Swedish Energy Agency is presently planning capacity building efforts in Africa and Asia, some in cooperation with Sida. The planning includes both long-term programmes and focused collaborations where the Swedish Energy Agency will contribute with texhnical expertise.
