Highlights -- 64th meeting of the CDM Executive Board

Public input will inform policy dialogue, future direction of Clean Development Mechanism For the full report of the meeting see <http://cdm.unfccc.int/EB/index.html>. Bonn, 26 October 2011 – The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board is seeking public input to inform a year-long policy dialogue on the past and future of the mechanism. “We want to learn from the past to build for the future. To do that we need to engage civil society, policymakers and market participants in an open, formal and constructive dialogue,” said CDM Board Chair Martin Hession at the close of the Board’s 64th meeting, a special three-day meeting to clear up work ahead of next month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa. When it met in Quito, Ecuador, last month, the Board agreed to hold a wide-ranging dialogue with government policymakers and climate change experts. The outcome should be a report that could help make a transformed CDM the key instrument for stimulating low-carbon investment in developing countries. “In the past 10 years, CDM private and public stakeholders have built a unique, global mechanism that works. Now is the time to tap into the experience gained implementing the mechanism and put it to work in a revitalized CDM,” said Mr. Hession when announcing the dialogue, which will include a comprehensive programme of active consultation with a full range of stakeholders with an interest in the development of the CDM. The outcome is expected to inform Board decisions and recommendations to Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. Also at its 64th meeting, the Board considered public input on the adequacy of the CDM procedures for stakeholders to comment on projects undergoing validation. A wide range of constructive inputs were received from a cross-section of stakeholder groups and individuals. (These are available on the CDM website under stakeholder interaction, calls for public input, call for inputs on the validation process.) The Board Chair also took the opportunity to thank the Government of Gambia for hosting a meeting on 11-14 October of the Board’s Small-scale Working Group (SSC WG), which advises on matters relating to methodologies and standards for small-scale CDM projects. The SSC WG, at its 34th meeting, considered about 10 methodologies, 17 requests for revision and clarification, and other regulatory matters, including work that could simplify methodologies for use in programmes of activities. The report of the SSC WG meeting will be available soon on the CDM website.