Open letter to Environment Ministers: Integrity of carbon markets at COP 17

A coalition of 109 civil society organisations calls for a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and the closure of carbon market loopholes. The letter demands that market-based mechanisms be tied to binding targets and proposes specific reforms to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), including human rights safeguards, a robust appeals procedure, and the exclusion of non-additional projects and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

• The signatories argue that market-based mechanisms, such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), are ineffective unless they are integrated into a legal framework of ambitious and binding emission reduction commitments.
• The letter identifies several loopholes that undermine climate targets, specifically citing the impact of 'hot air' (surplus AAUs), non-additional carbon credits from Joint Implementation (JI) and the CDM, and the need to prevent double counting in new mechanisms.
• The organisations demand that the UNFCCC acknowledge the UN Charter's requirement to prevent human rights violations, ensuring that projects risking such violations are barred from earning carbon credits.
• The letter opposes the inclusion of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in the CDM, describing the technology as unproven and risky, and noting it could allow oil companies to generate credits from enhanced oil production.
• Proposed reforms for the CDM include strengthening additionality rules to exclude large infrastructure projects like coal and large hydro, establishing 'do no harm' assessments for sustainable development, and creating a grievance mechanism for civil society to appeal CDM Executive Board decisions.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2011). Open letter to Environment Ministers: Integrity of carbon markets at COP 17. http://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Openletter_COP17_ENV-ministers_carbon-markets.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Open letter to Environment Ministers: Integrity of carbon markets at COP 17. 2011. http://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Openletter_COP17_ENV-ministers_carbon-markets.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Open letter to Environment Ministers: Integrity of carbon markets at COP 17 |date=28 November 2011 |url=http://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Openletter_COP17_ENV-ministers_carbon-markets.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2011open, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Open letter to Environment Ministers: Integrity of carbon markets at COP 17}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2011}, month = nov, url = {http://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Openletter_COP17_ENV-ministers_carbon-markets.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }