Foreword
Validation has emerged as a key stepping stone in developing credible greenhouse gas emission reduction projects. Validation corresponds with the requirement under Art. 12 of the Kyoto protocol that project activities be "certified." It also responds to project developers' need for assurance that their projects meet Kyoto Protocol and other relevant requirements and is thus likely to generate emission reductions that will be acceptable under the emerging regime. A positive validation opinion, issued by an independent third party, is usually the final step before negotiations between a project developer and a host country. Validation has therefore been accepted by many as a part of the proposed project cycle for the CDM.
In an attempt to better understand and streamline the validation process, the PCF worked with Det Norske Veritas, a Norwegian certification company with relevant experience in this field, to develop preliminary guidelines for the validation process, a checklist of project requirements, and a template for a validation report and opinion. This body of work, collectively referred to as the "Preliminary Validation Manual" (PVM), is based on experience with several greenhouse gas projects including the validation of the Liepaja Regional Solid Waste Management project, a PCF project in Latvia, and the verification of the ILUMEX project, a completed AIJ project in Mexico. We are pleased to make the PVM now available on this website.
The PCF intends to use the PVM on an interim basis for its own project pipeline, but would also like to invite other project developers and observers to use, test, critique, and improve it. The preliminary nature of the PVM is underscored by the fact that many of the relevant requirements for CDM and JI projects are still in flux as UNFCCC Parties negotiate modalities for the CDM and JI. We therefore expect that the PVM, and in particular the checklist of requirements, will have to be adjusted after COP-6 and later in light of new experi-ence and require-ments as well as considering specific project characteris-tics when a validator wishes to use it.
The PVM has undergone a peer review process which resulted in significant improvements; this process is still open. We therefore encourage you to post your feedback and experience with the PVM on this website for public viewing and discussion. The PCF team will make every effort to periodically update the Manual.
Finally, the PCF team would like to thank the staff at DNV who have written or contributed to the Manual, in particular, Einar Telnes, Jesse Uzzell, Tim Lund and Mari Grooss Viddal. We would also like to thank the participants of a workshop held in Amsterdam on November 1st, 2000 under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands. Their discussions have greatly improved the PVM. And, last but not least, we would like to express our gratitude to those ex-perts who have peer reviewed the Manual on a short notice. We know we have some way to go in order to meet all expectations for the PVM.
PCF Team, November 2000