Green Investment Schemes: Maximizing their benefits for climate and society

The report assesses Green Investment Schemes (GIS) as a carbon finance mechanism to unlock surplus Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It argues that GIS can overcome the failures of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) by targeting high-priority, long-term mitigation areas such as building energy efficiency and bioenergy. The authors recommend using programmatic approaches, simplified monitoring and verification (M&V), and extending crediting periods beyond 2012 to ensure the bankability of infrastructure projects. The report estimates the potential value of transacted AAUs at approximately €9 billion and highlights the importance of additionality to maintain environmental integrity.

• Green Investment Schemes (GIS) are designed to unlock surplus Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Russia, and Ukraine—estimated at approximately 57.8 billion units—to provide funding for climate benefits in those regions.
• The potential financial value of AAUs transacted through GIS is estimated at approximately €9 billion, assuming a price of €10 per ton.
• The report identifies the low-energy retrofit of old, inefficient building stock as a high-priority target area because it offers the largest cost-effective potential in the EIT region and provides significant socio-economic co-benefits.
• To avoid the pitfalls of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI), the report recommends that GIS adopt a programme- or policy-based approach rather than a purely project-based one to reduce transaction costs for small-scale investments.
• Environmental integrity in GIS depends on ensuring additionality, but the report warns that many host countries are currently lenient toward this requirement, which poses a risk to the scheme's climate effectiveness.
• For long-term climate investments to be bankable, the report argues for a combination of flexible greening ratios, co-funding, or crediting periods that extend beyond the first Kyoto commitment period (e.g., until 2020).

APA

Ürge-Vorsatz, D., Türk, 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-synthesis-report-updated1.pdf

Chicago

Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana, Andreas Türk, 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-synthesis-report-updated1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ürge-Vorsatz |first1=Diana |last2=Türk |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=December 2008 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/gis-synthesis-report-updated1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rgevorsatz2008green, author = {Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana and Türk, 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 = dec, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/gis-synthesis-report-updated1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }