Green Investment Schemes: Maximizing their benefits for climate and society

The report assesses Green Investment Schemes (GIS) as a hybrid carbon finance mechanism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) that combines the sale of Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) with domestic greening activities. It argues that GIS can address mitigation priorities that other mechanisms, such as Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), have failed to deliver, particularly in building energy efficiency and small-scale bioenergy. The authors emphasize that because the window for these transactions closes in 2012, GIS should prioritize long-term, low-carbon infrastructure and high-additionality projects rather than lowest-cost measures. Key recommendations include adopting simplified monitoring and verification (M&V) processes, allowing post-2012 fund disbursement, and utilizing a programmatic approach to reduce transaction costs for small-scale investments.

• Green Investment Schemes (GIS) function as a hybrid mechanism combining the International Emission Trading (IET) of Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) under Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol with domestic greening activities funded by the sale revenues.
• The total available AAUs from Central and Eastern-European countries, including Russia and Ukraine, are approximately 6.5 Gt for the first commitment period, while net demand is estimated at 900 Mt.
• The report identifies the low-energy retrofit of inefficient building stock as a high-priority target area due to its long capital lifetime and significant co-benefits, such as reduced fuel poverty and improved health.
• Existing carbon finance mechanisms like JI and CDM have largely failed to support high-sustainability priority areas in CEE, such as small- and medium-scale bioenergy and building energy efficiency, meaning GIS should not simply replicate their architectures.
• To ensure environmental integrity without stifling priority projects, the report recommends using simplified and innovative monitoring and verification (M&V) methods and sectoral baselines rather than the rigorous individual baselines used in CDM.
• Because the window for GIS is short and fund disbursement can be slow, the report argues for allowing the disbursement of revenues to continue after 2012 to avoid compromising the optimal framework for the sake of speed.
• A realistic crediting period extending to 2020 is necessary to make long-term investments bankable, otherwise GIS will only attract 'low hanging fruit' projects already viable under other policies.

APA

Ürge-Vorsatz, D., Tuerk, A., Sharmina, M., Feiler, J., & Qiao, L. (2008). Green Investment Schemes: Maximizing their benefits for climate and society. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/gis-executive-summary1.pdf

Chicago

Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana, Andreas Tuerk, Maria Sharmina, József Feiler, and Liming Qiao. Green Investment Schemes: Maximizing their benefits for climate and society. Climate Strategies, 2008. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/gis-executive-summary1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ürge-Vorsatz |first1=Diana |last2=Tuerk |first2=Andreas |last3=Sharmina |first3=Maria |last4=Feiler |first4=József |last5=Qiao |first5=Liming |title=Green Investment Schemes: Maximizing their benefits for climate and society |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=November 2008 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/gis-executive-summary1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rgevorsatz2008green, author = {Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana and Tuerk, Andreas and Sharmina, Maria and Feiler, József and Qiao, Liming}, title = {{Green Investment Schemes: Maximizing their benefits for climate and society}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2008}, month = nov, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/gis-executive-summary1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }