Current CDM projects are not fit for results-based financing

The document contends that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) lacks the necessary environmental and social standards to be integrated into results-based climate finance. It highlights that many CDM projects fail to produce real emission reductions due to a lack of additionality and have caused negative impacts on local communities, including human rights violations. The author argues that the Green Climate Fund (GCF) should not purchase stranded offset credits from existing CDM projects, as this would contradict the GCF's mandate for new and additional financial resources and its own interim environmental and social safeguards, which require stakeholder participation and grievance mechanisms that the CDM lacks.

• The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) fails to provide the environmental and social standards required for climate action, with some projects resulting in human rights violations, community displacement, and negative effects on health and livelihoods.
• A significant portion of CDM offset credits do not represent actual emission reductions because they originate from large energy projects that would have been viable without CDM investment.
• Using the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to purchase emission reductions from CDM projects (results-based finance) would conflict with the GCF's mandate to provide 'new, additional, adequate and predictable financial resources' and its requirement for robust environmental and social risk management.
• Brazil has proposed the creation of an Enhanced Clean Development Mechanism (CDM+) based on existing rules, which would include a new market mechanism, a new project-based mechanism, and the ability to count voluntary cancellation of offsets toward financial pledges.

APA

CMW (2014). Current CDM projects are not fit for results-based financing. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2014/11/25/current-cdm-projects-are-not-fit-for-results-based-financing/

Chicago

CMW. Current CDM projects are not fit for results-based financing. Carbon Market Watch, 2014. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2014/11/25/current-cdm-projects-are-not-fit-for-results-based-financing/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=CMW |title=Current CDM projects are not fit for results-based financing |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=25 November 2014 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2014/11/25/current-cdm-projects-are-not-fit-for-results-based-financing/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{cmw2014current, author = {CMW}, title = {{Current CDM projects are not fit for results-based financing}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2014}, month = nov, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2014/11/25/current-cdm-projects-are-not-fit-for-results-based-financing/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }