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Briefings
21 Feb 2012

Policy Brief: Hydro Power Projects in the CDM

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was designed to bring clean and sustainable development to poor countries while enabling rich countries to achieve their emissions reductions cost efficiently. Hydro power makes up 30% of all carbon offsets projects registered under the CDM. Despite delivering renewable energy, these projects have faced sharp criticism for their failure to reduce emissions and for negative social and environmental impacts.
Briefings
7 Nov 2011

Summary of the 64th CDM Executive Board Meeting

Dear CDM Watch Network Members, This is a summary of the most relevant outcomes of the last CDM Executive Board meeting. It was a shorter meeting than usual (since it was an extra meeting that was held just 1 month after the 63th meeting). You find information about the discussions and decisions at the meeting,…
Briefings
2 Nov 2011

SEI Study on Coal Power in the CDM, Issues and Options

This paper examines several issues that arise in awarding emission reduction credits to coal projects in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It identifies systematic weaknesses in the coal methodology’s (ACM0013) design and application. The authors estimate that shortcomings lead to significant over-crediting of Certified Emission Reductions and discuss why a revision of the methodology to more accurately estimate emissions reductions may not be possible because of data constraints and weak signal-to-noise ratio.
Briefings
10 Sep 2011

Policy Brief: Why Coal Projects in the CDM undermine Climate Goals

The CDM now allows new coal plants to earn tradeable emissions credits for claimed improvements in power plant efficiency. This Policy Brief explains why coal projects do not belong in the CDM. They would have been built in the absence of the CDM, i.e. the projects that have come forward to date are uniformly ‘non-additional’ and will therefore generate carbon credits that do not represent real emission reductions. They also conflict with the CDM’s sustainability objectives by inflicting toxic burdens on local populations and ecosystems while undermining climate mitigation goals by locking in billions of tons of CO2 emissions over decades to come instead of investing in renewable energies and a low carbon development path.
Briefings
18 Oct 2010

Industrial N2O Projects Under the CDM: Adipic Acid – A Case of Carbon Leakage?

This paper evaluates projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that abate N2O emissions from adipic acid production. The analysis shows that carbon markets enabled N2O emissions abatement levels that had not previously been achieved. However, it also indicates that the CDM appears to have caused significant carbon leakage during the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009. We estimate that about 20% of the CERs issued for CDM adipic acid plants for 2008 and 2009 – totaling to about 13.5 MtCO2e – do not represent real emission reductions.

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