Search Climate Insights Directory

The document critiques the CDM's standardized baseline framework, arguing that its one-size-fits-all approach to performance thresholds and benchmarks may lead to both under-crediting and over-crediting of projects. It highlights risks to environmental integrity, particularly because the voluntary nature of these baselines may encourage developers to select them only when they yield more credits than project-based baselines.

Carbon Market Watch proposes eleven specific reforms for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to be discussed at CMP8, focusing on additionality, project bans, human rights, and governance.

Carbon Market Watch outlines recommendations for the WG-KP 18th session, emphasizing the urgency of climate action to avoid warming of 4°C or more and addressing specific technical issues including the carry-over of assigned amount units and the review of the clean development mechanism.

The EU-ETS is the world's largest cap-and-trade system, regulating approximately half of the EU's CO2 emissions across 30 countries. While it has evolved through three trading periods to include more greenhouse gases and airline emissions, the system has suffered from severe over-allocation of allowances, leading to price collapses and a surplus of approximately 2 billion allowances by the end of 2012.

Ninety-five organizations from 31 countries have raised concerns regarding MDL project No 3197 in the Bajo Aguán Valley, Honduras, citing evidence of severe human rights violations and violence against peasant communities.

Carbon Market Watch argues that banning HFCs in refrigeration is essential to prevent the lock-in of high-emission infrastructure and to achieve indirect greenhouse gas reductions through improved energy efficiency. The letter asserts that a phase-down schedule alone is insufficient and warns against allowing multinational commercial interests to delay regulatory action that would otherwise benefit smaller European companies producing alternatives.

The document critiques the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for failing to deliver sustainable development benefits, noting that host countries often lack incentives to enforce rigorous sustainability criteria to avoid deterring investment. It highlights that only greenhouse gas reductions have economic value in the current system, leading to projects that may cause local harm, such as displacement and pollution. The author, CDM Watch, advocates for international sustainability criteria, mandatory safeguards, monitoring plans, and grievance mechanisms to prevent negative impacts.

EU Environment Ministers failed to reach a consensus in Luxembourg on addressing the 13 billion tonne surplus of emission reduction permits from the first Kyoto commitment period. CDM Watch argues that this failure, driven largely by Poland's insistence on the unrestricted use of its surplus, weakens the EU's position for the Doha climate negotiations and threatens the environmental integrity of a second commitment period. The document highlights that the surplus, often termed "hot air," does not represent real emission reductions, as countries like Poland, Russia, and Ukraine had emissions levels well below their targets at the time of the Kyoto Protocol's adoption.

The letter warns that a surplus of over 13 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent in Kyoto emission units (AAUs) threatens the environmental integrity of future climate deals. It calls on EU ministers to support the G-77 proposal to contain these surpluses and urges the Council to act by qualified majority at the October 25, 2012 meeting to ensure the EU's commitment to meaningful emission cuts.

The document highlights a massive surplus of 13.1 billion tonnes of CO2 from the first Kyoto commitment period (CP1), far exceeding estimated demand. It notes that weak emissions pledges and lenient offset rules are likely to create an additional 3.6 billion tonne surplus by 2020. In response, the G-77 and China, incorporating views from the African Group, AOSIS, and Brazil, proposed restrictions on the use of CP1 Assigned Amount Unit (AAU) surpluses in the second commitment period (CP2).

The report examines Ukraine's 'Green Investment Scheme', which was established to manage 470 million euros earned from selling 'hot air' emission quotas between 2009 and 2012. It highlights a significant gap between the funds received and the actual implementation of projects, noting that by the end of 2011, only 37 projects were completed, resulting in a disproportionately high cost per ton of CO2-eq reduced. The document criticizes the scheme for lack of transparency, bureaucratization, and potential corruption, arguing that project selection may be driven by political reasons rather than environmental or economic viability.

The submission advocates for carbon pricing in the international aviation and maritime sectors to reduce emissions and generate funds for climate action, while cautioning against the use of non-additional offsets based on experiences with JI and CDM.

The report finds a significant surplus of Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) from the first Kyoto commitment period (CP1), totaling 12,637 Mt, which vastly exceeds the estimated demand of 11.5 Mt. It notes that the ability to carry over these surpluses to the second commitment period (CP2) depends on a country's participation in CP2, meaning Russia's stated intent not to join would remove 5.8 Gt CO2e from the available surplus.

CCAP and CDM Watch support the G77 proposal to cancel 13Gt of AAU surplus by the end of the second commitment period (CP2) in 2017 or 2020. While the proposal allows for the carryover of AAUs for domestic compliance, it prohibits their trading. The organizations further welcome the proposal's aim to prevent a new surplus after 2012 by cancelling the difference between CP2 targets and actual 2012 emissions if emissions are lower than the target, which may require some EU Member State targets to be strengthened.

A coalition of environmental NGOs is calling on the European Commission to implement subsector-specific "placing on the market" (POM) prohibitions for new HFC-based equipment in the shipping sector. The letter argues that current recovery and containment measures are insufficient, noting leakage rates in the current fleet can reach up to 200% annually. The coalition asserts that applying containment and recovery measures could reduce maritime HFC emissions by 40% by 2020 compared to business-as-usual, at a cost of €22/tonne, which is lower than the average cost of other HFC reduction measures.

Transparencia Mexicana analysed 150 Project Design Documents (PDDs) for CDM projects in Mexico as of June 2012 to evaluate the integrity of public consultation processes. The study found that a lack of regulation allows project developers full discretion over consultation design, leading to poor reporting of results and minimal recording of public requests for mitigation or compensation. The authors argue that current guidelines are insufficient and recommend reforming the CDM consultation process to better facilitate interactions between diverse stakeholders, including local communities, academics, and specialized public authorities, to prevent manipulation and exploitation.

The document argues that local stakeholder consultations for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in India and Mexico are frequently inadequate or falsified due to a lack of clear guidelines and oversight. In India, project proponents often omit meeting details from public notices, provide documents in English that are inaccessible to impoverished villagers, and produce reports that omit unfavorable comments. The author provides case studies from Gujarat involving a solar project and a biogas project to illustrate how villagers were excluded or ignored. To improve transparency and sustainable development, the document recommends mandatory videography of consultations, publishing notices in local languages and multiple newspapers, and ensuring the public is informed about their 2% share of carbon credit sales.

The document examines the risk posed by a projected surplus of up to 13 billion Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) that could be carried over into a second Kyoto Protocol commitment period. It argues that without restrictions, this surplus could eliminate additional emissions reductions and threaten the goal of limiting global warming to 2°C, thereby undermining the viability of the global climate deal planned for 2020.

CDM Watch asserts that the CDM Executive Board must integrate human rights considerations into its project selection and review processes, citing the UN Charter and the Cancun Agreements. The organization criticizes the Board for registering projects in 2011 despite evidence of human rights abuses and advocates for the creation of a grievance mechanism to provide remedies for affected people.

CDM Watch supports the existence of materiality standards to avoid excessive auditing costs and protect small, truly additional projects. However, it contends that the thresholds established at COP17 in December 2011 are too lenient and risk compromising environmental integrity. These thresholds range from 0.5% for projects exceeding 500,000 offsets per year to 10% for micro-scale project activities.