a case for pro-poor carbon projects

The author critiques the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for being corporately controlled and failing to deliver promised benefits to poor communities, particularly in India. The text argues that carbon trading should function as reparation for environmental damage, benefiting the underprivileged rather than subsidizing industry. To demonstrate an alternative, the author highlights LAYA's micro-scale projects involving energy-efficient woodstoves and clean drinking water, which share surplus resources with the community, and notes the Fair Climate Network's goal to facilitate 50 similar projects.

• The author contends that the vast majority of the approximately 7,000 projects on the UNFCCC registry are corporately controlled, serving to subsidize companies rather than benefit the poor.
• In India, the author asserts that sustainable development indicators for CDM projects—covering social, environmental, economic, and technological wellbeing—are loosely defined, resulting in minimal delivery of promised benefits to local communities.
• The document claims that some polluting industries in India have obtained Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits despite continuing to emit pollutants, suggesting that the CDM can have negative impacts on the environment and poor communities.
• LAYA has implemented a Micro Scale Gold Standard Voluntary Emission Reduction Project to reduce about 5,000 tonnes of CO2 by installing 4,000 energy-efficient woodstoves, with a plan to share two-thirds of the surplus resources with the community.
• The Fair Climate Network (FCN) intends to facilitate 50 pro-poor projects of a similar nature within the next 3 to 5 years.

APA

d’Souza, S. (2013). a case for pro-poor carbon projects. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2013/07/25/a-case-for-pro-poor-carbon-projects-watch-this-6/

Chicago

d’Souza, Siddarth. a case for pro-poor carbon projects. Carbon Market Watch, 2013. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2013/07/25/a-case-for-pro-poor-carbon-projects-watch-this-6/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=d’Souza |first1=Siddarth |title=a case for pro-poor carbon projects |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=25 July 2013 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2013/07/25/a-case-for-pro-poor-carbon-projects-watch-this-6/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{dsouza2013case, author = {d’Souza, Siddarth}, title = {{a case for pro-poor carbon projects}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2013}, month = jul, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2013/07/25/a-case-for-pro-poor-carbon-projects-watch-this-6/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }