In Focus

Electric vehicle projects receive fine tuning under
Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism

Bonn, Germany, 16 April 2015 – Projects that encourage transition to electric vehicles will receive further incentive when they get their charge from renewable energy sources thanks to rule changes adopted this week by the Board that oversees the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

The Board changed the small-scale CDM transport methodology used to calculate baseline emissions and measure ongoing emissions to take into account and credit the reduced emissions from renewable energy sources.

The CDM provides incentive to projects that cause a switch to electric vehicles away from fossil fuel powered vehicles. Now those projects have a higher incentive to get their charge from renewable sources.

 “Powering electric vehicles from new renewable energy sources can make an important contribution to the response to climate change,” said CDM Executive Board Chair Lambert Schneider.

 Road transport accounts for about 14 per cent of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion in developing countries, according to the International Energy Agency. Along with contributing to climate change, vehicle tailpipe emissions contribute to illness and death.

 “This is part of the Board’s efforts to make the CDM even better, to broaden its usefulness in the international response to climate change,” said Mr. Schneider.

 The CDM rewards with saleable credits – certified emission reductions (CERs) – projects that reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to sustainable development. The incentive has led to registration of 7,906 projects and programmes in 107 developing countries.

 Also at its 83^rd meeting, the Board improved a methodology for projects that create clean drinking water.

 Prices paid for CERs have plunged with falling demand. Thus, the incentive to create new projects, and even continue existing projects, has diminished. The Board’s approach is to continue improving the CDM and expanding its usefulness, including for use for results-based finance.

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

For more information please visit <http://cdm.unfccc.int/>

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

 About the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism

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.