Nairobi Framework

Background

The Nairobi Framework (NF) was initiated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its UNEP Risoe Centre, the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with the specific target of helping developing countries, especially those in sub-Sahara Africa, to improve their level of participation in the clean development mechanism (CDM). The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) also joined the partnership in 2009..

The NF has benefited as well from cooperation with other international organizations whose goals and work plans support its target. These organizations include the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the Asia Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).

The Framework was first announced by the UN Secretary-General, in his address during the opening of the high-level segment of COP/MOP 2 in which he stated that the CDM has become a multi-billion dollar source of funding for sustainable development... an outstanding example of a UN-led partnership linking government action to the private sector in the developing world. The Secretary-General went on to encourage donor countries to help make these efforts [under the Nairobi Framework] a success. Subsequently, in its decisions 1/CMP.2 (Further Guidance to the CDM) and 6/CMP.2 (Capacity building under the Kyoto Protocol), CMP 2 welcomed the Nairobi Framework and encouraged Parties to undertake a number of actions in these areas.

More recently, during the eigth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, acting as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP.8), Parties renewed their call to the NFP members and cooperating organizations to enhance their capacity building activities, in particular in least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for, inter alia, the following:
      (a) Skills enhancement and training to assist designated national authorities, applicant and designated operational entities and project participants with regard to technical matters related to the CDM.

(b) Institutional strengthening through, inter alia, support to designated national authorities in the development and submission of standardized baselines and microscale renewable energy technologies that are automatically defined as additional.

(c) Activities of designated national authorities and stakeholders in the implementation of the guidelines on standardized baselines and suppressed demand through system development and application.

Objectives

The Framework consists of five objectives, agreed to by the initiating agencies, considered to be key priority targets in order to move the CDM forward in the beneficiary countries:
  • Build and enhance capacity of DNAs to become fully operational
  • Build capacity in developing CDM project activities
  • Promote investment opportunities for projects
  • Improve information sharing/outreach / exchange of views on activities / education and training
  • Inter-agency coordination

Information sharing

The UNFCCC secretariat, in its function of facilitator of the Nairobi Framework and the broader work to enhance the regional distribution of CDM project activities, coordinates relevant activities to be carried out by partners and cooperating organizations. The implementing agencies, working together, address identified needs and opportunities according to the situation in the countries and regions where they are active, as well as their own mandates.

Other agencies, private institutions, bilateral programmes and NGOs are also encouraged to provide assistance to enhance the regional distribution of CDM project activities and to inform the secretariat, so that this information can also be made available through this webpage.

The information accessible from this web portal will provide an overview of assistance (ongoing or planned) under the Framework, partly as an outreach tool to demonstrate progress being made towards the objectives of the Nairobi Framework and partly to provide lessons from past experiences.

Initiatives already undertaken + Fourth Workshop on enhancing the regional distribution of CDM projects in Asia and the Pacific, Manila, Philippines - September 2013
+ Fifth Africa Carbon Forum, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire - July 2013
+ Regional Coordinating and Managing Entities (CMEs) Trainings for Africa: Dakar, Senegal, July 2012 and Luanda, Angola, October 2012
+ Third Workshop on Enhancing the Regional Distribution of CDM Projects in Asia and the Pacific, Manila, Philippines - July 2012
+ Workshop on Accelerating Low Carbon Energy in Africa through Carbon Finance, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - April 2012
+ The Fourth Africa Carbon Forum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - April 2012
+ Regional Distribution session during the First Joint Coordination Workshop,Bonn, Germany - March 2012
+ Third African Carbon Forum in Marrakech, Morocco - July 2011
+ Donor consultation meeting during SB32, Maritim, Bonn, Germany - June 2010
+ Second Africa Carbon Forum in Nairobi, Kenya - March 2010)
+ Side event during COP 15 on "Nairobi Framework - Status and Future Impacts in Africa" - December 2009
+ First Africa Carbon Forum, Dakar, Senegal - September 2008
+ Plenary sessions on the Nairobi Framework are included during all meetings of the CDM DNA Forum and in the Joint Coordination Workshops (JWS) since November 2007
+ The third meeting of the CDM DNA Forum was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in October 2007
+ The CDM Bazaar website was launched in September 2007