Socio-economic assessment and feasibility study on - Öko-Institut eV

76
August 2010
<strong>Socio</strong>-<strong>economic</strong> <strong>assessment</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>feasibility</strong> <strong>study</strong>
on sustainable e-waste management in Ghana
Reserve (CAR) or the Voluntary Carbon St<strong>and</strong>ard (VCS). In order to facilitate an overview on
these trading schemes, some important characteristics are presented for each of them:
� CDM only allows emission trading credits from gases that are covered by the Kyoto
Protocol. As CFCs are listed under the Montreal Protocol <strong>and</strong> not under the Kyoto
Protocol, R134a is the only relevant gas contained in refrigerators <strong>and</strong> freezers that
could be used to generate CDM credits. Therefore, CDM seems only attractive for
projects that have a strong additional focus on emission reductions through increased
energy efficiency (replacement of old refrigerators by more efficient devices) 39 .
� CAR additionally included the destruction of CFCs into possible emission reduction
measures in early 2010 (CAR 2010). It gives credits for CFCs from cooling circuits but
not for CFCs from foams. Therefore, projects can only generate CAR-credits from step
1 CFC-recovery <strong>and</strong> destruction. Moreover, R 22, a refrigerant frequently used in airconditioners,
is not eligible under CAR. The recovered CFCs have to be shipped to the
USA for destruction. ODS recovery <strong>and</strong> destruction projects are temporally limited to
12 months. Long term CFC-recovery <strong>and</strong> destruction efforts might have the possibility
to be accepted as several 12-month projects.
� In parallel to CAR, also VCS included ODS destruction into its scheme in early 2010
(VCS 2010). In contrast to CAR, VCS does not provide a methodology laying out the
basis for CFC recovery <strong>and</strong> destruction projects. Methodologies have to be developed
according to the framework provided by VCS (VCS 2008). As there have already been
several ODS destruction methodologies submitted to the Voluntary Carbon St<strong>and</strong>ard
Association, it can be assumed that applicable project methodologies will soon be
available. In contrast to CAR, both, refrigerants <strong>and</strong> foaming agents are eligible. The
targets for recovery <strong>and</strong> destruction efficiency are 85% of the addressed CFCs. This
means that especially CFC-recovery from foams will have to meet high st<strong>and</strong>ards.
39 Every CDM activity involving refrigerator replacement needs to ensure sound measures for CFC-recovery <strong>and</strong>
destruction from cooling circuits <strong>and</strong> foams – disregarding the fact that the emission reductions from CFCdestruction
are not eligible under CDM.