Press Release: Climate Campaigners applaud Commission for proposal on offset restrictions

by Miriam Vicente MarcosEU carbon market, Global marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Cancún, Mexico/London, United Kingdom. The European Commission today published its much-anticipated proposal on quality restrictions on the use of offsetting credits from industrial gas projects in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The proposal comes in the wake of a series of scandals surrounding fake CDM offset credits. Climate campaigners have welcomed it as a first step towards ensuring that the EU ETS does not turn into a refuse dump for poor quality offset credits which lead to an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions.

GEO discloses ugly truth of CDM hydro project (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosGlobal markets, Human rights in climate action, Sustainable developmentPosted on Comments are Disabled

A new report in the German magazine GEO points once more at the problems of CDM hydro dam projects. Hydro Dam Power Projects have long been criticized because of their impacts on local inhabitants who might be forced or coerced to relocate and because of their environmental impacts: flooding of valuable agricultural lands, destruction of …

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Civil Society CDM Workshop Brazil (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosGlobal markets, Land use and forestry, Sustainable developmentPosted on Comments are Disabled

CDM Watch organized a 2-day CDM Workshop for NGOs, Activists and Citizens in Brazil’s capital Brasilia on 26 and 27 October. The steadily rising number of CDM projects in Brazil is observed with growing concern. The projects’ poor environmental integrity and lack of transparency paired with fraudulent activities to maximize credit issuance have put Brazilian …

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Round Two: Supercritical (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosGlobal marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

At this week’s Board meeting, members will discuss two projects that are applying for carbon credits for building new coal-fired power stations[1]. One of these is the largest of all coal power plants currently in the CDM pipeline: With its 4000 MW capacity, the Sasan project, located in India, would be the size of about …

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Natural Gas Projects should be rejected (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosGlobal marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Another large natural gas power project[1] in China (capacity: 1170MW) has applied for eligibility as a CDM project. However, it is currently under review because its additionality and baseline claims are highly questionable: The project seems to have been planned well before the project developers decided to turn it into a CDM project. Furthermore the …

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Transparency for DOE performance on the horizon (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosGlobal markets, Sustainable developmentPosted on Comments are Disabled

At the last CDM Executive Board (EB) meeting in October 2010, the EB discussed a proposal to make CDM auditors (DOEs) which originally approved the project liable for excess carbon offsets from approved projects[1]. The EB did not make a final decision on the issue of liability but did make several important recommendations for reform …

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Sneak Preview: New Study on Grid Emission Factors (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosGlobal marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

At the next meeting, the EB will consider new rules that would require CDM host countries to hire a CDM auditor (DOE) to validate their default grid emissions factors. CDM Watch welcomes such rules for the following reasons: Currently CDM projects that replace grid electricity (e.g. a wind farm or a hydro dam) can use …

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Mistaken issuance of HFC-23 credits: Human Error should be Corrected (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosEU carbon market, Global marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Despite the current ban on HFC credit issuance, more than 800,000 CERs were issued to an HFC-23 abatement project in India on 12 November. The EB suspended issuance of HFC-23 credits in August 2010 and made public assurances that the suspension would remain in place until the Board had discussed the Methodology Panel’s conclusions (see …

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EU Action on CDM (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosEU carbon market, Global marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Alarm about the environmental integrity of industrial gas abatement projects under the CDM has reached the highest political level in Europe. In response to mounting concern about HFC-23 and N2O projects, EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, announced in August 2010 that the European Commission would draft a proposal on quality restrictions on the …

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Renewal of Ineos HFC-23 destruction project (Newsletter #11)

by Miriam Vicente MarcosGlobal marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

At the meeting the CDM Executive Board (EB) will also decide whether or not to allow the renewal of the crediting period of the first HFC-23 Decomposition Project (Project 003) ever registered. The project is located in Ulsan, South Korea and operated by the Ineos Group. The project has generated 1,4 Mio credits over its …

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