Legal Basis

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Article 4.1 (b)

Decree of July 7, 1999, which creates the Interministerial Commission on Global Climate Change

Purpose

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change establishes in its Article 4, first paragraph, that all Parties, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities and their specific national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances, should take different actions listed in paragraphs (a) through (j).

The development of national mitigation plans is a commitment of all Parties to the Convention, being thus also a commitment of Brazil as a Party that has ratified the Convention. Such a commitment is described in Article 4, first paragraph, subparagraph (b), which expresses that the Parties shall formulate, implement, publish and regularly update national and, where appropriate, regional programs containing measures to mitigate climate change by addressing anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, and measures to facilitate adequate adaptation to climate change.

As the elaboration of this plan involves the preparation of several sectoral studies that are very complex and comprehensive, a timeframe has not been determined for Parties to submit such plans.

The purpose of including this action in the Climate Change Program is thus to initiate a process of developing sectoral studies viewing the elaboration of a National Mitigation Plan, so that a document can be ready possibly by 2004, pursuant to the provisions of Article 4.1 (b) of the Climate Change Convention.

Implementation of actions

This action should also focus on the analysis of several greenhouse gas-emitting sectors and their methodological peculiarities for the implementation of the CDM, particularly with regard to costs and potentials, cost/benefit ratio of mitigation measures in several sectors, baselines, etc.