Open Letter: HFC-23 Projects Undermining Credibility of UNFCCC Process

An open letter from civil society organizations to the COP 16 Presidency calling for the suspension of carbon credits for HFC-23 projects due to methodology flaws that lead to over-issuance. The authors urge the UNFCCC to rescind credits issued since November 26, 2010, and suggest transitioning HFC-23 management to the Montreal Protocol to ensure real emission reductions.

• An investigation by the UN's CDM Executive Board revealed that the approved crediting methodology for HFC-23 projects contains multiple flaws, which may result in the over-issuance of carbon credits that do not represent actual or additional emission reductions.
• HFC-23 projects are critical to the integrity of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) because they represent 50% of all CDM carbon credits.
• Despite the findings of the investigation, the CDM Executive Board lifted a suspension and issued nearly 20 million credits for HFC-23 projects starting on November 26, 2010.
• The authors propose that the international community should address HFC-23 destruction and emissions through the Montreal Protocol, noting that HFC-23 is a byproduct of HCFC-22 production, an ozone-depleting chemical already being phased out by that protocol.

APA

Filzmoser, E., Walravens, F., Nissim, C., Maier, J., Trio, W., Elsworth, R., Coequyt, J., Parekh, P., Yamagishi, N., Waeil, H., & Doniger, D. (2010). Open Letter: HFC-23 Projects Undermining Credibility of UNFCCC Process. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-to-patricia-espinosa-hfc-23-projects-undermining-credibility-of-unfccc-process/

Chicago

Filzmoser, Eva, Fionnuala Walravens, Chaim Nissim, Jürgen Maier, Wendel Trio, Rob Elsworth, John Coequyt, et al. Open Letter: HFC-23 Projects Undermining Credibility of UNFCCC Process. Carbon Market Watch, 2010. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-to-patricia-espinosa-hfc-23-projects-undermining-credibility-of-unfccc-process/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Filzmoser |first1=Eva |last2=Walravens |first2=Fionnuala |last3=Nissim |first3=Chaim |last4=Maier |first4=Jürgen |last5=Trio |first5=Wendel |last6=Elsworth |first6=Rob |last7=Coequyt |first7=John |last8=Parekh |first8=Payal |last9=Yamagishi |first9=Naoyuki |display-authors=etal |title=Open Letter: HFC-23 Projects Undermining Credibility of UNFCCC Process |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=8 December 2010 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-to-patricia-espinosa-hfc-23-projects-undermining-credibility-of-unfccc-process/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{filzmoser2010open, author = {Filzmoser, Eva and Walravens, Fionnuala and Nissim, Chaim and Maier, Jürgen and Trio, Wendel and Elsworth, Rob and Coequyt, John and Parekh, Payal and Yamagishi, Naoyuki and Waeil, Hmaidan and Doniger, David}, title = {{Open Letter: HFC-23 Projects Undermining Credibility of UNFCCC Process}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2010}, month = dec, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-to-patricia-espinosa-hfc-23-projects-undermining-credibility-of-unfccc-process/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }