17 November 2015: The UNFCCC Secretariat has published a paper (FCCC/WEB/ART314/2015) compiling the information provided by Annex I Parties that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol on efforts to minimize the adverse impacts associated with response measures, in accordance with Article 3.14 of the Protocol. According to the paper, 17 Parties submitted information in 2015 on minimizing these impacts in their National Inventory Reports (NIRs), with nine presenting major changes and/or additional information.

Article 3.14 of the Kyoto Protocol states that each Annex I Party shall strive to implement their emission limitation or reduction commitments “in such a way as to minimize adverse social, environmental and economic impacts on developing country Parties.” Actions to minimize these impacts may include funding, insurance and transfer of technology.

In the compilation document, the Secretariat provides the complete text of the relevant information in the NIR in cases where the Party’s 2015 submission differs significantly from information in its 2014 NIR. This was the case for Australia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Spain and Ukraine. Where only a small part of the information provided differs from that in the 2014 NIR, only the different part is presented, as with Belgium, Estonia, Japan and the UK.

When additional information was provided in 2015, the document only includes the part added to what was presented in 2014. Such is the case for Italy and Portugal. Where no difference was found between the 2014 and 2015 information provided, the Secretariat notes this under the Party’s name. These Parties are Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. [Compilation of Information on the Minimization of Adverse Impacts in Accordance with Article 3, Paragraph 14, of the Kyoto Protocol]