Industrial N2O Projects Under the CDM: The Case of Nitric Acid Production

The study finds that the CDM successfully incentivized N2O abatement in the nitric acid sector, where such practices were previously rare. While the risk of carbon leakage and systematic baseline manipulation is judged to be low for nitric acid projects—especially compared to adipic acid projects—the authors highlight significant issues with current methodologies. These include complexity leading to credit issuance delays and a system that rewards high-emitting plants. To resolve these, the authors recommend implementing a benchmark factor for baseline emissions, potentially in the range of 4 to 5 kg N2O per tonne of nitric acid.

• The CDM effectively drove innovation and technology adoption in the nitric acid industry, which had almost no prior history of N2O abatement except for a few European pilot projects. This resulted in the introduction of monitoring standards and abatement technologies across 63 plants in 11 Non-Annex-1 countries.
• The risk of carbon leakage for nitric acid projects is considered limited at current credit prices, partly because these plants are often operated and sell their products locally. This contrasts with adipic acid projects, where CER profits can exceed primary product profits by an order of magnitude, creating a higher risk of production shifting to CDM-eligible plants.
• There is no evidence of systematic baseline manipulation to maximize credits, but current methodologies (AM0028 and AM0034) are problematic. Specifically, AM0034's use of a single campaign to establish baseline emissions may not be representative due to high variability over time and between plants, where emissions can vary by up to a factor of four.
• Methodological complexity has caused severe delays in the issuance of credits. Over 60% of all monitoring reports are still awaiting issuance, and only 25 out of 50 projects that submitted reports have actually received credits.

APA

Kollmuss, A., & Lazarus, M. (2010). Industrial N2O Projects Under the CDM: The Case of Nitric Acid Production. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-nitricacid-summary-2010.pdf

Chicago

Kollmuss, Anja, and Michael Lazarus. Industrial N2O Projects Under the CDM: The Case of Nitric Acid Production. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2010. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-nitricacid-summary-2010.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kollmuss |first1=Anja |last2=Lazarus |first2=Michael |title=Industrial N2O Projects Under the CDM: The Case of Nitric Acid Production |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=8 November 2010 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-nitricacid-summary-2010.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kollmuss2010industrial, author = {Kollmuss, Anja and Lazarus, Michael}, title = {{Industrial N2O Projects Under the CDM: The Case of Nitric Acid Production}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2010}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-nitricacid-summary-2010.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }