CDM Watch is pleased to bring you the pre-summer edition of our Newsletter. The issues covered in this edition are definitely hotter than Brussel’s July temperatures.

CDM HFC-23 projects are back in the spotlight! An encouraging decision by the CDM Executive Board at its last meeting might substantially limit the amount of questionable CERs to be issued to HFC-23 plants before the April 2013 ban. Currently more than 6.2 million CERs are on hold and for the first time since 2008 a project has withdrawn its issuance request for about 2.8 million CERs.

CDM Executive Board members also get the thumbs up for rejecting a Chinese coal power project over its questionable additionality calculations. Whether the Board can keep up the spirit of greater integrity in the CDM is to be seen when they discuss a new version of crediting rules for CDM coal power projects for the second time at its upcoming meeting.

We also explain how the gigantic 13 Gigatonne ‘hot air’ loophole is threatening to undermine the viability of the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol. Then, we’ll introduce a range of possible solutions for addressing this surplus and analyse the EU’s not so noble silence on this issue.

Recovering from Rio+20, this newsletter looks at the steps taken by the CDM Executive Board to highlight sustainable co-benefits of CDM projects and analyses why just ‘highlighting’ them won’t help. We also look back at the last intercessional UN climate negotiations in Bonn where the theme seemed to be ‘diverging views’ on about every agenda item. We have also created a summary of the main results (or lack thereof).

As the high-level panel on the CDM Policy Dialogue is preparing its final report due in September 2012, CDM Watch is starting to get worried about the influence of business lobbyists on the conclusions and recommendations. CDM Watch calls on the policy dialogue members to pass an honest review of the CDM and not to shy away from unpleasant conclusions.

Finally, we present the CDM Watch Network and add two guest articles from network members. Western Sahara Resource Watch discusses a new challenging project faced by the CDM where Morocco is listed as the ‘host party’ for a wind farm project in the Western Sahara, which is illegally occupied by Morocco. Cambodian-based organisation Nexus describes challenges faced by projects targeting the poorest populations – also called ‘pro-poor projects’.

Happy reading! The CDM Watch Team

Table of Contents

1. CDM Watch at Work
2. Small decision, big impact: millions of carbon credits from HFC-23 on hold
3. The End of CDM Coal Power?
4. Hot air: toxic for the Kyoto Protocol
5. The CDM sustainable development tool: why ‘highlighting’ will not deliver
6. A Review of UNFCCC Carbon Market Developments
7. CDM Policy Dialogue’s final report – Countdown is on!
8. The CDM Watch Network – The Voice of Civil Society in the CDM
9. Western Sahara: CDM project stirs conflict over host country approval on illegally occupied land
10. Pro-poor carbon projects: challenges and perspectives