The contribution of the CDM to sustainable development in China

The document assesses the contribution of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to sustainable development in China's biogas sector. It finds that while the CDM can attract foreign investment and technology, the lack of transparent national sustainable development criteria and low incentives for CER buyers to prioritize sustainability often lead to poorly designed projects with low efficiency. The study highlights a disparity between the industrial sector, where wastewater treatment is common, and the livestock sector, which faces significant technical and financial barriers. It concludes that the CDM's second objective—advancing sustainable development—is often undermined by a 'race to the bottom' in criteria setting and a lack of international agreement on sustainability standards.

• The Chinese Designated National Authority (DNA) lacks transparent, publicly available criteria for sustainable development, leading to a situation where projects are rarely rejected for insufficient sustainability contributions, which the authors describe as a "race to the bottom".
• CDM biogas projects in China are predominantly concentrated in the food processing and industrial wastewater sectors, as these companies have more experience with commercial business and stronger pressure to comply with wastewater discharge regulations compared to the livestock sector.
• Biogas projects in the livestock sector face severe technical challenges, including sensitivity of micro-organisms to temperature and pH changes, low gas yields from single-input manure, and the inhibitory effects of antibiotics.
• Foreign investment and technology transfer are critical for the livestock sector's success, as domestic technology is less developed and commercial farms often lack the capital for high-efficiency plants.
• The Gold Standard (GS) is largely ignored in the Chinese biogas market because the additional costs of certification are not offset by the small price premium for GS certificates, and most CER buyers are indifferent to sustainable development objectives.
• Household-based biogas programs, such as the one in Hubei Province involving 33,000 digesters, offer higher social and economic benefits—including reduced indoor pollution and lower household expenditures—but face challenges regarding additionality and long-term monitoring.
• The livestock sector is particularly hindered by a lack of legal solutions for grid connection and electricity feed-in tariffs that are too low to make biogas plants financially feasible without CDM income.

APA

Curtius, H., & Vorlaufer, T. (2009). The contribution of the CDM to sustainable development in China. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/cdm-sustainable-development-_casestudy_biogas_china.pdf

Chicago

Curtius, Hans, and Tobias Vorlaufer. The contribution of the CDM to sustainable development in China. Carbon Market Watch, 2009. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/cdm-sustainable-development-_casestudy_biogas_china.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Curtius |first1=Hans |last2=Vorlaufer |first2=Tobias |title=The contribution of the CDM to sustainable development in China |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=December 2009 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/cdm-sustainable-development-_casestudy_biogas_china.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{curtius2009contribution, author = {Curtius, Hans and Vorlaufer, Tobias}, title = {{The contribution of the CDM to sustainable development in China}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2009}, month = dec, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/cdm-sustainable-development-_casestudy_biogas_china.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }