Appalachian Energy Blog

Last week marked the beginning of another exciting project around here that is a slight change of gears from business as usual, working with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Secretariat himself hand-selected our own international energy management guru, David Wallace, for a private consulting position updating the Convention’s database on policies and measures.

Now… that will be described in English so that you can understand how important and how un-painfully-boring this opportunity is despite the techy name.

The UNFCCC is the treaty that was ratified in 1994 as a way for world governments to address the many challenges presented by global climate change. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in addition to the UNFCCC, sharing identical goals as the Convention while adding time specific deadlines for greenhouse gas emission reductions. Quite the controversial piece of legislation. At this point, climate change is universally agreed upon. How to reverse its trends and consequences is not. As a means to keep the UN informed of each country’s progress along their stated goals, each participating nation is required to submit national communications every 3-5 years describing updates in national climate policy. These communications are dense reports, rich in data, loaded with information, and about as easy to read and utilize as the Rosetta Stone. So, these communications are then distilled down into a large database where they can be readily cross-referenced and benchmarked without the need to read each monolithic report.

David, with the assistance of AE’s Harris Stewart, have been endowed with the responsibility of updating this database, so that it can reach its maximum potential as a useful tool combating climate change. They will be reviewing ten years worth of climate policy, completing voids in the database and exposing inconsistencies with what is being reported and what is actually happening on the ground. As a result, the UNFCCC’s database will be more transparent and useful. They have even been requested to submit an overview paper on the database, including comments and suggestions of how such policies should be reported under the Kyoto Protocol.

Though this is leftfield of our normal activity at Appalachian Energy, its working toward a common goal of creating a sustainable future, using the tools of today to solve the problems of yesterday. We are proud that the job of editing one of the most fundamental international agreements in history has landed itself in our shop.

For more information on the UNFCCC click here