Vang Vieng, Lao PDR, 16 November 2023 – The Department of Climate Change (DCC) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) convened a workshop on carbon markets governance arrangements. GGGI Lao PDR is supporting DCC through the program for “Open and Sustainable Carbon Markets for Lao PDR”, financed by the Government of Australia.
DCC/ MoNRE convened to Vang Vieng the inter-ministerial committee recently established by H.E. Mme. Bounkham Vorachit, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Lao PDR, to lead the formulation of a decree to regulate carbon credits. This committee brings together representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry, Energy and Mines, Planning and Investment, and other line ministries and government entities. As explained by Deputy Director General of Climate Change, Mr. Amphayvanh Oudomdeth, the Government of Lao PDR expects the decree and associated strategies and regulations to be in place by the end of 2024.
This workshop primarily aimed to enhance the capacity of key officials involved in mitigation policy, through training sessions and presentations from other countries’ preparations to Article 6. GGGI collaborated on this occasion with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to mobilize renowned experts with significant experience in their respective countries. Mr. Felipe Carazo, Head of Public Engagement at the Tropical Forest Alliance, hosted by the World Economic Forum, led the first session of the workshop. In a presentation retracing Costa Rica’s carbon policy experience, Mr. Carazo emphasized the role that both strategic planning and learning-by-doing played in the success of the country’s carbon markets policies. Dr. Daniel Tutu Benefoh, Head of the Carbon Markets Office of the Government of Ghana, later gave practical advice to Lao officials based on their recently developed ‘framework on international carbon markets and non-market approaches’. Covering issues such as institutional set-ups and benefit-sharing and fees, Dr. Benefoh insisted on the imperative to create sustainable institutional and human capacity to manage the complexities of the carbon markets space. These two presentations were complemented by sessions led by GGGI covering preparations in neighboring Cambodia and Thailand, but also Zambia, which are receiving technical assistance from GGGI.
The workshop’s first day was also an opportunity for GGGI Lao PDR to present and collect important feedback on the preliminary findings of an ongoing assessment of Lao PDR’s readiness to participate to carbon markets. This assessment, which should be finalized at the beginning of 2024, identifies gaps, challenges, opportunities, and risks and provides guidance to the Government of Lao PDR to develop a robust governance framework that can attract high-quality carbon trades.
Eventually, during the second day, committee members engaged in facilitated discussions on a draft table of content and annotated outline of the carbon markets decree provided beforehand by GGGI experts, based on the above-mentioned assessment. Discussions focused on the scope of the carbon credits decree (whether and how to regulate voluntary markets for instance), coherence with preexisting laws and regulations, and legal terminologies.
As emphasized by Ms. Mali Walker, Second Secretary at the Embassy of Australia to Lao PDR, in her closing remarks, this workshop was a critical step to facilitate the transition from the project initiation to the policy formulation phase. DCC/ MoNRE, with support from the GGGI Lao PDR technical assistance team, will use the feedback collected at the workshop to improve the assessment’s findings and develop a draft decree on carbon credits.
