Dear friends,

We are happy to introduce you to the new layout of our newsletter. We provide a look at upcoming events, recent activities and our take on the latest burning issues.

This Wednesday, Sept. 21, CDM Watch, Sandbag and Members of the European Parliament will discuss whether contentious project types in the CDM undermine European climate goals. The focus of the debate will be on coal projects in the CDM. This debate is timely because the CDM Executive Board ignored warnings by its Methodology Panel that the rules for coal projects allow for over-crediting.

Our analysis of coal projects in the CDM pipeline also shows that none are additional and could lead to hundreds of millions of artificial carbon credits. This issue was highlighted by a recently released cable by Wikileaks that revealed that CDM projects in India, where most of the CDM coal projects are located, do not depend on CDM funding and are therefore not additional.

Our colleagues at International Rivers showcase the importance of public participation in their article on how civil society input to the CDM validation process has helped put an end to the registration of harmful large hydro projects. We also highlight the need to clarify procedures for communication of concerns about CDM projects and rules. At its upcoming meeting, the Board has an unique opportunity to strengthen CDM guidance on how local stakeholder consultation must be conducted. This and many other topics will be discussed at the civil society workshop on carbon markets CDM Watch is organizing with local partners October 12-14 in Bangkok.

Finally, we provide insight in to the complex and important policy issues that will be on the Board’s agenda at their meeting next week. These include how standardisation works; why it is important to strengthen and clarify rules for renewing crediting periods; and an introduction to suppressed demand.

Happy reading! The CDM Watch Team

Table of Contents

1. CDM Watch at work
2. Upcoming Event @ EU Parliament
3. Coal update: CDM EB fails to address non-additionality and over-crediting
4. Wikileaks confirms Indian projects are non-additional
5. Success stopping CDM registration of harmful large hydro projects
6. Communication Between The CDM World And The ´Outside` World
7. Upcoming Civil Society Workshop on Carbon Markets, Bangkok
8. CDM Watch meets with grassroots activists in Gujarat, India
9. The standardisation frenzy
10. The challenge of renewing  CDM projects
11. Boosting CDM projects in LDCs: An introduction to suppressed demand