German Environment Ministry Funds Pilot Project on Energy-Efficient Lighting

Energy-saving lightbulbs are more and more the norm in Germany and they make a vital contribution in efforts to mitigate climate change. The German Environment Ministry (BMU) is now helping to broaden the scope for using energy-saving lightbulbs with a project in Ukraine. As part of BMU’s CDM/JI Initiative, Ukrainian lightbulb manufacturer Gazotron-Lux will be placed in a position to meet the climate change provisions of the Kyoto mechanisms (Joint Implementation) and to produce the quantity of lightbulbs needed to do so. 

The energy-saving lightbulbs will be installed in Ukrainian Education Ministry buildings (schools, universities, etc.), the ministry being unable to provide the lightbulbs due to lack of funds. Facility managers will see a significant drop in energy costs, so that the initial investment stands to be covered within the first year. Without the Kyoto mechanisms, the ministry would have no access to the start-up funds that BMU is now providing for the first 15,000 lightbulbs.

In the longer term, funds from the KfW Carbon Fund will be used to gradually expand the project to supply a total of two million lightbulbs. The costs of the project can probably be fully recouped from revenue accrued from the sale of JI certificates. This would avoid the project subsidising the Ukrainian lightbulb manufacturer and so increase the chances of this particular project type being replicated. It is hoped that the project will have the desired side-effect of sensitising school children and students to energy-saving measures.     

The project was developed by Hamburg-based GfA Envest, the agency now responsible for drawing up the project documents. The advance payment for the first 15,000 certificates that BMU purchases will be made by KfW. Once completed, the project will serve climate change mitigation with annual greenhouse gas savings of around 250,000 tCO2e per year.

Background: The Kyoto Mechanisms

Under the CDM/JI Initiative, BMU promotes use of the Kyoto Protocol’s project-based mechanisms to foster climate-friendly technologies and effect additional reductions in global emissions. To aid strategically important lighthouse projects, in certain cases BMU purchases project-generated certificates in accordance with carbon market rules. This serves in making project replication economically viable and avoids the need for state subsidies. BMU has won the KfW Bank as a mandatary for this purpose. 

BMU’s acquisition of certificates is not designed to help Germany meet its climate change targets. Rather, the certificates will be sold on the carbon market once the emission reductions have been verified (anticipated at the start of 2011). The revenue they generate will be directed back to the federal treasury. If the project is a success, it would make sense to think about setting up a revolving fund for the Ukraine which would use the revenue accrued on the global carbon market to promote greater market penetration in the lighting sector.

Point of contact at BMU:

Thomas Forth, E-Mail: Thomas.Forth@bmu.bund.de

Further information and point of contact for the project:

KfW: KfW Press Release (PDF)
GFA Envest: Newssite with further Information on the Project