Standardized baselines

DNA’s roles and responsibilities

A host country DNA’s key roles with respect to standardized baselines are: developer of SB; facilitator for SB development; focal point for communication with the Board/secretariat; decision-maker on development or submission of SB to the Board; and decision maker on application of SB. Depending upon the role DNA plays in a particular context of SB, a DNA may adopt the following practices:

• Identification of sectors: if the DNA is the SB developer or facilitator of SB, the DNA should identify key sectors where SBs can generate benefits in terms of emission reductions and co-benefits (e.g. sustainable development or adaptation), by taking into account national/sectoral policies and priorities.

• Identification of challenges and risks: a DNA as a SB developer or facilitator should check and ensure: i) data availability; ii) financial implications; iii) internal capacity; iv) feasibility and effectiveness of interventions (mitigation measures) over the time and region; v) supports from the sectors; and vi) political supports.

• Identification of alternatives: a DNA should seek for alternatives and solutions to address the challenges and risks identified above. To do so the DNA may consider: i) exploring various primary and secondary data sources; ii) financial supports from international/regional organizations or climate finance institutions for making data available and/or developing SBs; iii) technical supports from Regional Collaboration Centres (RCCs, hyperlink); iv) following procedure for bottom-up or top-down development of SB ; v) hiring consultants; vi) involvement of sectoral experts/representatives or industry associations; vii) incentives or legislative obligations for the sectors to provide their data; and viii) partnership with other public agencies.

• Stakeholder consultation: through effective engagement of stakeholders, a DNA can make decisions on quality of data with reasonable confidence. By establishing collaborative processes with stakeholders, the DNA can improve the overall quality of data. It would be a good practice for the DNA to include stakeholders and sector experts from the planning stage for standardized baselines in order to better understand their perspectives and interests and/or encourage their participation in data collection. If applicable, the DNA may promote the involvement of stakeholders/experts during the overall quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) processes and regularly take into account their feedback on the data quality. The DNA should launch public consultation on the data/ SB in a way that facilitates comments from relevant stakeholders (e.g. CDM/sector/quality experts,  industry  representatives,  general  public  representatives, potential  project  participants,  representatives  of  relevant ministries, etc.) and allows a reasonable time for comments on the established standardized baselines and relevant procedures.

• Institutional arrangement and planning: it would be a good practice for a DNA to establish a collaborative partnership with other institutions such other ministries as well as data providers directly or indirectly through relevant associations. One of the most challenging tasks for SB development is data collection when data providers do not have incentives or legislative obligations for data delivery. Most public agencies and ministries are collecting relevant data and information, so the coordinated data collection based on institutional arrangement can achieve multiple purposes in an efficient manner and also promote the consistency of the data. Based on the established institutional arrangement, the DNA should develop a plan for developing and managing SBs, which should specify the objectives/goals, the roles/responsibilities of each players, coordination procedures, transparent processes and capacity-building for data management.

• Final review before submission: SBs can be developed by Parties, project participants, international industry organizations or admitted observer organizations, but only a host country DNA can submit the proposed SBs to the Board/secretariat. The DNA should submit the proposed SBs after ensuring that it complies with all requirements and provisions of the relevant procedure, standard and guidelines.

• Communication during the SB review process: until the approval of proposed SB by the Board, the secretariat will communicate with the DNA at various stages of consideration of submission. The communication includes:   communicating the findings/recommendation on proposed SB  highlighting the issues with the compliance of standardized baselines with the QA/QC objectives and/or the requirements of applicable standards/guidelines; seeking the formal agreement of DNAs on draft standardized baselines (DSBs). The DNA should provide its inputs in a timely manner in accordance with the SB procedure in order to expedite the process of consideration of SB within stipulated time.

• Application of approved SBs: before submission of standardized baseline, the host country DNA should make a decision whether the application of approved SBs is mandatory or voluntary to all CDM projects where the approved SBs are applicable.

• Updating approved SBs: the DNA should develop the procedures for updating the approved SBs in accordance with the SB procedure. It would be the good practice to integrate procedures for SB development and SB management (updating) at the planning stage