SUBMISSION ON VIEWS REGARDING THE REVISION OF THE CDM MODALITIES AND PROCEDURES

A joint submission by the Human Rights & Climate Change Working Group and various NGOs calling for the CDM to establish institutional safeguards, strengthen civil society participation, and create grievance mechanisms to address human rights violations associated with carbon offset projects.

• The CDM's reputation has been damaged by allegations of human rights violations, with projects continuing to be registered despite international investigations into abuses.
• Specific projects illustrate the failure of the CDM to ensure meaningful stakeholder participation, leading to rights abuses: the Barro Blanco hydropower project in Panama involved militarization and violations of indigenous rights, while the Bajo Aguán biogas project in Honduras is linked to extrajudicial executions on palm oil plantations.
• The current CDM Modalities and Procedures are insufficient because they rely solely on host countries to define sustainable development criteria, lacking uniform international standards to protect vulnerable groups.
• Stakeholder consultation requirements in the CDM are poorly defined and lack sufficient documentation, often resulting in projects being registered despite strong local opposition and potential harm to ecosystems or populations.
• There is currently no mechanism for affected communities or civil society to raise concerns or seek redress once a project has been registered, even if adverse impacts occur during implementation.
• The submission recommends the creation of an exclusion list for project types that are fundamentally contrary to sustainable development, specifically citing coal-fired power plants.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2012). SUBMISSION ON VIEWS REGARDING THE REVISION OF THE CDM MODALITIES AND PROCEDURES. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Human-Rights-Climate-Change-WG-Submission-on-CDM-Modalities-Procedur....pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. SUBMISSION ON VIEWS REGARDING THE REVISION OF THE CDM MODALITIES AND PROCEDURES. 2012. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Human-Rights-Climate-Change-WG-Submission-on-CDM-Modalities-Procedur....pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=SUBMISSION ON VIEWS REGARDING THE REVISION OF THE CDM MODALITIES AND PROCEDURES |date=25 March 2012 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Human-Rights-Climate-Change-WG-Submission-on-CDM-Modalities-Procedur....pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2012submission, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{SUBMISSION ON VIEWS REGARDING THE REVISION OF THE CDM MODALITIES AND PROCEDURES}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2012}, month = mar, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Human-Rights-Climate-Change-WG-Submission-on-CDM-Modalities-Procedur....pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }