1 June 2011: The World Bank announced that eight developing countries will receive an initial grant of US$350,000 to support the design, pilot and implementation of market-based instruments for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation.

During the Carbon Expo, taking place in Barcelona, Spain, the World Bank announced the first round of grants under the Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) that will benefit Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey (with Morocco expected to join soon). Each of the eight recipient countries is expected to develop a “Market Readiness Proposal” to set out the plans for the use of market instruments, such as domestic emissions trading schemes or new international crediting mechanisms, to scale up mitigation efforts. A special focus of the grants will be on “readiness” aspects, including: supporting for data collection and management; establishing baselines; creating and strengthening domestic measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems; and supporting policy analysis and the development of a regulatory framework.

The PMR, launched at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the UNFCCC in Cancun, Mexico, on 8 December 2010, is targeting a total capitalization of US$100 million before end of this year and aims to provide grant support to 15 countries, both for the preparation and implementation of their proposals. [World Bank Press Release]