Kyoto Protocol's CDM surpasses 250 registered programmes of activities

Cooking Stoves in China

Kyoto Protocol's CDM surpasses 250 registered programmes of activities

Bonn, 7 April 2014  – The Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM), the international tool that channels investment into clean energy and greenhouse gas reduction technology in the developing world, has now registered 250 programmes of activities (PoAs).

The 250th PoA will install off-grid micro hydro power plants to provide electricity for farmer households living in Sichuan province on the upper reaches of the Yangtze river in China. It will also provide clean energy for cooking and heating reducing indoor air pollution that leads to acute respiratory infections especially among housewives and children.

“The programmatic approach gives an opportunity to projects that are too small to be economically viable to participate in the CDM and profit from carbon credit revenues,” said the Chair of the CDM Executive Board, Hugh Sealy. “The steady growth of registered PoAs is extending the benefits of the CDM to communities previously unable to take advantage of the mechanism.” 

Under PoA, an unlimited number of similar project activities, over a wide area or region, can be administered under a single programme umbrella. They are particularly suited to small-scale or  micro-scale projects. 

Once a PoA is registered, an unlimited number of similar projects can be added and administered over time without the need to register each one individually. The ability to group a number of smaller activities under the umbrella of a single programme, reduces transaction costs and makes the CDM more attractive to least developed countries (LDCs). 

“PoAs bring significant benefits to local communities especially at the household level,” said Mr. Sealy. “These projects help people gain access to a range of products from energy-efficient cookstoves to solar lights and water purification technologies.”

Since the PoA procedures were adopted by the CDM Executive Board in 2007, 250 have been registered in 71 countries. More than 30 per cent of all registered PoAs are located in Africa, compared to just 2 per cent of regular CDM projects.

More information on the 250th registered PoA can be found below:
http://cdm.unfccc.int/ProgrammeOfActivities/poa_db/2TEMX18CA7YKI4R6UZSW9FDGVN5Q0H/view

For more information on PoAs please visit this link:
http://cdm.unfccc.int/ProgrammeOfActivities/index.html

The list of all registered PoAs can be found here:
http://cdm.unfccc.int/ProgrammeOfActivities/registered.html

For further information please contact:
Irini Roumboglou, Communications Officer, UNFCCC at:
CDM-Press(at)unfccc.int, +49 (0) 228-815-1670

About the CDM
The clean development mechanism (CDM) allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reductions (CERs), each equivalent to one tonne of CO2. CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries to meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. With 7,475 registered projects and 250 registered programmes of activities in 105 developing countries, the CDM has proven to be a powerful mechanism to deliver finance for emission-reduction projects and contribute to sustainable development.

About the UNFCCC
With 195 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes the second commitment period under the Protocol. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

See also:
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UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres on Twitter: @CFigueres