BioCarbon Fund: About the Biocarbon Fund

	Please Log in or Register
	Search:

03.01.05 Community Development Carbon Fund Gets Unexpected Boost; Public & Private Partners Invest $128 Million

03.01.05 The Host Country Committee Meeting, Washington DC February 15-16, 2005

02.25.05 TERI, IETA and World Bank host GHG Forum in India Feb 1-2, 2005

02.22.05 Book Launch: Legal Aspects of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms - Making Kyoto Work

02.22.05 Carbon Expo Press Release

02.16.05 Kyoto Protocol Enters into Force

News & Events webpage

View Press Releases

Related Links

Glossary of Terms

Carbon Finance FAQs

Carbon Fund Videos

2004 PCF Annual Report

2004 CDCF Annual Report

Options for Designing a Green Investment Scheme for Bulgaria (PCFplus Research Report)

Will the Kyoto Protocol Affect Growth in Russia?

Estimating the Market Potential for the CDM

Italian Carbon Fund Overview Document

2004 State and Trends of the Carbon Market Report

Overview of the World Bank Carbon Finance Business

More Documents: PCF, CDCF, BioCF, General Carbon Finance

Financing CDM/JI Projects

Consultancy Services

For general questions or help with the website, please contact the Carbon Finance Help Desk or send an email directly to: helpdesk@carbonfinance.org

The BioCarbon Fund will provide carbon finance for projects that sequester or conserve greenhouse gases in forests, agro- and other ecosystems. Through its focus on bio-carbon, or 'sinks', it will deliver carbon finance to many developing countries that otherwise have few opportunities to participate in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), or to countries with economies in transition through joint implementation (JI). The BioCarbon Fund will test and demonstrate how land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities can generate high-quality ERs with environmental and livelihood benefits that can be measured, monitored and certified, and stand the test of time.

The BioCarbon Fund will be a public/private initiative established as a trust fund administered by the World Bank, similar to the Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF). The World Bank, as Trustee, will oversee the BioCarbon Fund's management and appoint a Fund Manager and a Fund Management Unit. This unit will be a part of the World Bank's carbon finance business and draw on the World Bank's experience with carbon finance, in particular experience gained from the PCF.

  Portfolio Information
  Types of Projects
  BioCarbon Fund FAQs

Rationale

Growing awareness of the risk of climate change has propelled national and local governments, companies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to show leadership and take action to manage greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol was finalized by many national governments as the basis for action in December 1997 and further guidance was provided in subsequent meetings in Bonn and Marrakech. Meanwhile, other approaches such as voluntary agreements, regional agreements, state regulations and corporate emissions trading markets are also observed.

Avenues to meet commitments cost-effectively and credibly are being sought by those participating in these systems. Conservation and sequestration of carbon can offer one such avenue to help mitigate climate change.

Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities are of critical importance to many economies in transition, and developing countries and their agricultural and forestry sectors can benefit from carbon finance flows. Many developing and primarily agrarian countries have small energy and industrial sectors, hence opportunities for emission reductions are few. Even in countries where other opportunities exist, LULUCF activities can foster sustainable rural development and directly affect the lives of the poorest people.

After several years of discussions, the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCCC”) and its Kyoto Protocol have agreed on the list of LULUCF activities that are eligible in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol project mechanisms — Joint Implementation (“JI”) for economies in transition and the Clean Development Mechanism (“CDM”) for developing countries.

Specifically, all LULUCF activities are eligible under JI, while only afforestation and reforestation are included in the CDM. Many definitions and modalities specific to carbon conservation and sequestration, such as the risk of non-permanence or the possibility of leakage, will not be addressed before the UNFCCC completes its consultative process by the Ninth Conference of the Parties in late 2003 (COP-9).

Government negotiators as well as market players have a need for “learning-by-doing” through actual carbon purchase transactions across diverse LULUCF activities. Experience gained from these activities should help inform the Parties’ decisions as they discuss the eligibility rules for afforestation and reforestation under CDM for the first commitment period, and to provide them with insights on activities that they may wish to consider for subsequent commitment periods. The experience should also provide market players with a wider range of potential tools to credibly manage their carbon risk.