{"id":946,"date":"2011-10-24T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=946"},"modified":"2012-01-31T15:56:25","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T20:56:25","slug":"the-clean-development-mechanism-continues-to-be-plagued-by-uncertainties-over-past-performance-and-future-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2011\/10\/24\/the-clean-development-mechanism-continues-to-be-plagued-by-uncertainties-over-past-performance-and-future-role\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clean Development Mechanism Continues to be Plagued by Uncertainties over Past Performance and Future Role"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

by Shelley Welton
\nDeputy Director<\/p>\n

Just as the Kyoto Protocol is near a moment of crisis (the Protocol\u2019s first commitment period is set to expire in 2012 unless the parties reach an agreement to extend it at the upcoming Conference of the Parties in Durban, South Africa, this November-December), the future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) also hangs in the balance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CDM is a program that allows developed countries to meet some of their Kyoto Protocol emissions reduction obligations by financing projects that cut carbon emissions in developing countries.\u00a0 These projects earn \u201ccredits\u201d that can be sold in the developed world\u2014at the moment, primarily to countries participating in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)\u2014and used toward meeting these countries\u2019 carbon reduction obligations.\u00a0 Ideally, the program both reduces the cost of Kyoto compliance for developed countries and helps set developing countries on a path to sustainable development.<\/p>\n

The CDM has now registered over 3,500 projects across the developing world (though heavily concentrated in China and India), which will purportedly produce an annual average 530,310,752 tons of C02\u00ad<\/sub>-equivalent emissions reductions (approximately the same amount as Canada\u2019s annual CO2 <\/sub>emissions).\u00a0 But for years, the CDM has come under criticism for approving projects that would have been built anyway and thus should not have qualified for credits, and worse, for approving projects that receive credits but do not actually reduce carbon emissions.\u00a0 The issue has drawn renewed attention this fall after Wikileaks released a cable in which a U.S. diplomat described parts of the CDM\u2019s project approval process as \u201carbitrary\u201d and suggested that many CDM projects in India never should have been accepted.[1]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Program flaws have caused the EU to adopt rules severely restricting the future participation of CDM credits in its carbon trading market.\u00a0 Beginning in 2013, the EU will only accept credits from projects registered in \u201cleast developed countries\u201d and will not accept credits generated from industrial gas destruction projects, which are thought to be one of the least environmentally sound types of CDM projects.\u00a0 New Zealand and Australia are considering similar regulations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Added to these continuing controversies is the question of what happens to the CDM if countries do not reach an agreement on a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol in Durban.\u00a0 Without Kyoto commitments driving a carbon market, many have expressed concern (and some critics have expressed hope) that the CDM\u2019s future is in jeopardy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Durban presents a critical opportunity for a serious re-assessment of the CDM and its place in meeting the ultimate goal of stabilizing worldwide carbon emissions.\u00a0 The CDM\u2019s Executive Board has called for a comprehensive dialogue on the future of the program and will set forth plans for the shape this dialogue will take at its next meeting, which begins today, Monday, October 24th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Despite its flaws, many still see the CDM as having a vital role to play both in helping countries reach a post-2012 agreement, and in narrowing the gap between poor and rich countries without replicating rich countries\u2019 high-carbon growth trajectories.\u00a0 Critics and proponents alike should seize this chance to discuss whether and how to shape the CDM into a program that delivers on its potential.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/a> See<\/em> Quirin Schiermeier, Clean-energy credits tarnished<\/em>, Nature 477, 517-18 (2011).\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Shelley Welton Deputy Director Just as the Kyoto Protocol is near a moment of crisis (the Protocol\u2019s first commitment period is set to expire in 2012 unless the parties reach an agreement to extend it at the upcoming Conference of the Parties in Durban, South Africa, this November-December), the future of the Clean Development […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5671],"tags":[9428],"class_list":{"0":"post-946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-international","7":"tag-international","8":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Clean Development Mechanism Continues to be Plagued by Uncertainties over Past Performance and Future Role - 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