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CF-Assist: Program Description
CF-Assist is a capacity building and technical assistance program established by the World Bank in fiscal year 2005 to enable the full engagement of developing countries and economies in transition in the carbon market. As part of the World Bank’s endeavor toward market development, CF-Assist is aimed at assisting interested countries in the development and implementation of projects under the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) and JI (Joint Implementation), or to access International Emissions Trading (EIT) of the Kyoto Protocol. The program incorporates lessons learned from the National Strategies Studies Program and PCFplus, knowledge gained from the Bank’s experience as a trustee of carbon funds, and ongoing dialogue with members of the Bank’s Host Country Committee on Carbon Finance.
CF-Assist is an umbrella program that incorporates and ensures coherence and synergy between and a common work program and reporting framework for the numerous technical assistance and capacity building programs that existed prior to 2004, and which have now been incorporated into CF-Assist. These include PCFplus, CDCFplus and BioCFplus as well as more specific integrated efforts such as in Africa and Eastern Europe. These are all technical assistance facilities that the World Bank created through investment income from upfront payments by fund participants as well as direct donor contributions, and oriented at providing targeted capacity building and technical support to build a full range of CDM experience.
Program Description
CF-Assist is designed in a phased approach. The program has three distinct phases of capacity development for handling carbon finance transactions, each phase with clearly defined milestones that must be achieved as a requirement to proceed to the next phase. Phases I and II (each with a duration of up to one year) are focused on establishing carbon finance governance in a recipient host country; promoting CDM/JI project concepts as investment opportunities; and developing and accelerating deal flow. Key activities on each of the phases include:
Phase I
- Establishing the Designated National Authority/ focal point.
- Identifying potential CDM opportunities
- Training key experts in CDM concepts, techniques, design and project documentation
- For JI countries: assessing the greening potential for assigned amount units across various sectors.
Phase II
- Technical assistance to develop Project Design Documents (PDDs), get PDDs validated;
- Market projects to carbon buyers.
- Identify industry association or intermediary and fully engage the organization in carbon finance.
- Integrate carbon finance into investment promotion strategies.
- Promote deal flow and continually identified projects for maintaining the deal flow.
- Engage the financial sector to promote integration of carbon finance in lending strategies.
- For JI countries: assessment of activities necessary to meet eligibility criteria for Kyoto Mechanisms.
Phase III
- Fully engage the identified intermediary to integrate carbon finance in investment promotion strategies and commercial lending / grant finance
- JI countries: First Track JI/Art. 17 participation, establishment of green investment scheme, trade volume.
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