CDM EB 74 Press Highlights - CDM regional collaboration centres find strong interest in Africa

CDM EB 74 Press Highlights: CDM regional collaboration centres find strong interest in Africa

(Bonn, Germany, 26 July 2013) –  Interest in the clean development mechanism (CDM) in Africa remains hot despite a cooling in the market for the certified emission reductions (CERs) produced by CDM projects, according to information presented to the CDM Executive Board at its 74th meeting.

In its 2013-2014 management plan, the Board gave the go-ahead for regional collaboration centres (RCCs) to provide on-the-ground support to project participants, national authorities and agencies engaged in the mechanism. Findings from the first two operational RCCs, in Lomé, Togo and Kampala, Uganda, indicate there are plenty of project ideas looking for backers and numerous agencies eager to leverage the CDM to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and spur sustainable development. This, despite the price paid for CERs on the secondary market having declined more than 80 percent in the past year, to around 55 Euro cents.

“The choice was to drop anchor or stay the course. We ultimately decided to take this time to maintain and improve the CDM and seek opportunities where they might be found,” said Executive Board Chair Peer Stiansen. “This meant engaging with stakeholders through partnerships in key locations, especially in underserved areas showing interest and potential.”

Experience in Lomé, site of the longest operating RCC, has shown that the approach is cost-effective in promoting the CDM in the region. In the first five months of operation, 26 new project activities moved into the CDM pipeline, with help from staff members from the UNFCCC secretariat and the partner agency. The RCCs are also catalyzing partnerships with local, regional and international institutions. The RCC in Lomé, for example, is cooperating with more than 10 institutions, such as ECOWAS Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarités.

“Setting up the centres required a leap of faith. We have a responsibility to implement the mechanism and feel strongly about its value, so we made that leap,” said Mr. Stiansen. “We’re in a constrained market, and will of course be keeping a close eye on progress, but the early results from the centres are encouraging, for the CDM and Africa. This also bodes well for the RCCs being set up in the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia.”

The RCC Lomé, in partnership with the West African Development Bank, serves West and Francophone Africa, and RCC Kampala, in partnership with the East African Development Bank, serves the rest of Africa. A third RCC has just been launched in St. George’s, Grenada, in partnership with the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation. A fourth RCC is due to launch at the beginning of next month in partnership with Corporación Andina de Fomento in Bogotá, Colombia, and the fifth RCC is planned for Asia later in the year.

At its 74th meeting, the Board adopted revisions to two standards, one providing more guidance on demonstration of additionality of programmes of activities (PoAs) and the other providing more flexibility in the use of sampling and surveys in PoAs and stand-alone project activities. PoAs allow for an unlimited number of component project activities over a wide area to be administered under a single programme umbrella. Like regular CDM project activities, PoAs must show that the emission reductions they produce are real, measurable, verifiable and additional to what would have occurred without the project.

At the meeting, the Board also adopted a revised procedure for accreditation of the third-party entities that validate projects and verify emission reductions. The procedure, part of a package of improvements to the CDM’s accreditation system, will take effect on 1 January 2014. It will benefit the entities, as well as the Board and its support structure, by enhancing transparency, consistency and predictability while reducing the cost to entities.

For the report on RCCs referenced in this release, please see Appendix 3 in Annex 1 – ‘Status of CDM MAP 2013–2014 implementation’.

For a full report of the meeting see http://cdm.unfccc.int/EB/index.html.

For further information contact David Abbass, dabbass(at)unfccc.int, Public Information Officer, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat, Bonn, Germany.

About the CDM
The CDM allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2. CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries to meet a part of their targets under the Protocol. The CDM assists countries in achieving sustainable development and emission reductions, while giving industrialized countries some flexibility in how they meet their emission targets.