In Focus

UN’s CDM to be further simplified and streamlined

(French)

Bonn, 28 May 2015 – The UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is to be further simplified and streamlined to enhance its cost-effectiveness.

At its 84th meeting, held 25-28 May in Bonn, the CDM Executive Board identified areas across the spectrum to simplify requirements for clean development projects in developing countries.

 “This work stream could greatly reduce transaction costs and barriers for using the CDM,” said CDM Executive Board Chair, Lambert Schneider.

The meeting concluded days before governments also gather in Bonn under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to continue negotiations towards a new, universal climate agreement, in Paris in December.

“The need for an even greater scale of mitigation effort is apparent and our objective is to ensure environmental integrity of projects, while avoiding getting bogged down in too cumbersome requirements,” said Mr Schneider.

The Board has asked the secretariat of the UNFCCC to prepare concrete proposals to simplify procedures in the areas identified.

The CDM rewards with saleable credits, called certified emission reductions (CERs), projects that reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to sustainable development. The incentive has led to the registration of almost
8,000 projects and programmes in 107 developing countries. 

The CDM is being used in a number of ways. Meeting Kyoto Protocol compliance targets has been its principal use. For institutions that finance climate change mitigation, the CDM is a ready-made tool for monitoring, reporting and verifying how projects reduce emissions.

"The CDM is a tool that is very suitable for results-based finance given the experience that has been built over a decade with quantifying emission reductions in thousands of projects," said Mr. Schneider.

For the many governments with existing and emerging carbon pricing systems to reduce greenhouse gases, the CDM also offers a flexible element in compliance policy.

Meanwhile, the CDM is also starting to be used in developing countries in combination with domestic policies, such as emission trading schemes or carbon taxes. 

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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.

Photo by: UNFCCC, Photographer: Burkhard Seifert
CDM Project - 2969: CDM LUSAKA SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PROJECT 1