Resumen de Current approaches to MRV in South Africa: : a scoping study
Anya Boyda, Britta Rennkampa, Anthony James Danea, Harald Winkler
It is shown that there are MRV-related activities underway in South Africa, particularly focusing on measuring electricity consumption and monitoring GHG emissions. Yet currently many of these activities happen in parallel systems within multi-polar governance structures. A bottom-up perspective of MRV in South Africa, informed by interviews, workshops, desktop research, and stakeholder consultations, is provided and the systems, data, methodologies, and the institutional environment relevant to a South African MRV system are examined. The development of the local monitoring and evaluation system, and its relevance within the international MRV context, is also discussed. Some recommendations are made: most importantly, there is a need for a coherent approach to be developed, one that is coordinated by government and built on existing MRV systems.
Policy relevance This study contributes to a small, though emerging, body of literature on the measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) of emissions reductions, which has become a key issue in the international climate change negotiations. How to measure, report, and verify the impacts of so-called mitigation actions is a key question for decision makers, because access to financial support for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions partially depends on the ability to prove emissions reductions. In 2011, the South African government committed to establishing a domestic monitoring and evaluation system in its first national climate policy in the form of a White Paper. This system builds on existing institutional structures and databases. Some insights into the process of establishing a domestic MRV system are provided based on interviews, stakeholder workshops, and document studies. It is hoped that these insights will be useful to decision makers in developing countries, who face similar challenges in institutionalizing structures for the MRV of emissions reductions.
