Fri, Sep 7, 2012 - Bonn,
7 September 2012 - The one billionth certified
emission reduction (CER) credit under the
Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM) will be issued today, marking an impressive
milestone for the world's leading greenhouse
gas offset mechanism. The CER will be issued
to a project at a manufacturing plant in
India that has switched its fuel source
from coal and oil to locally gathered biomass.
Clean Development MechanismUnited
Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change"This exciting milestone is a
testament to the expanding use of the CDM,"
said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana
Figueres. "The CDM is not only having
an important impact on developing countries
through technology transfer and sustainable
development, but it can also encourage developed
countries to increase their emission reduction
targets by making mitigation more affordable."
Under the CDM, projects
that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
contribute to sustainable development can
earn saleable emission offset credits, one
CER for each tonne of carbon dioxide reduced.
Developed countries that have an emission
reduction commitment under the Kyoto Protocol
can use these CERs to meet a part of their
commitment.
In recent years, much
has been done by the international Executive
Board that oversees the CDM to safeguard
the mechanism's environmental integrity
and extend its reach in under-represented
regions. The most recent improvements include
guidelines on setting broad, standardized
emissions baselines against which projects
can be judged and emission reductions assessed;
procedures for programmes of activities
(PoAs) that allow an unlimited number of
projects over a wide area to be run under
a single administrative umbrella; and guidelines
on so-called suppressed demand, which allow
projects in some places to assume a level
of future development and resulting emissions
to be avoided.
These changes increase
the attractiveness of a range of smaller
CDM projects, such as those installing efficient
cook stoves, solar water heaters, biogas
digesters and other small-size renewable
energy generating systems.
"Our goals remain
to ensure environmental integrity, improve
efficiency and clarity and bring the benefits
of the CDM to all developing countries,"
said CDM Board Chair Maosheng Duan. "Huge
strides have already been made in these
areas and the Board will continue its efforts
to improve the CDM to make it increasingly
attractive to the current and many emerging
emissions trading systems."
According to its project
design document, the recipient of the 1
billionth CER (CDM Project 0949) reduces
CO2 emissions by 17,475 tonnes annually,
about the equivalent of removing 3,100 passenger
cars from the road each year.
There are now more than
4,500 CDM projects registered in 75 countries
worldwide, ranging from projects that reduce
emissions by replacing inefficient wood
stoves, to wind power projects that displace
fossil fuels, to large industrial projects
that destroy extremely potent greenhouse
gases.
About the CDM
The clean development
mechanism (CDM) allows emission-reduction
projects in developing countries to earn
certified emission reductions (CERs), each
equivalent to one tonne of CO2. CERs can
be traded and sold, and used by industrialized
countries to meet a part of their emission
reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
With more than 4,500
registered projects in 75 developing countries,
the CDM has proven to be a powerful mechanism
to deliver finance for emission-reduction
projects and contribute to sustainable development.
About the UNFCCC
With 195 Parties, the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership
and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified
by 193 of the UNFCCC Parties. Under the
Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly
industrialized countries and countries undergoing
the process of transition to a market economy,
have legally binding emission limitation
and reduction commitments. The ultimate
objective of both treaties is to stabilize
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere
at a level that will prevent dangerous human
interference with the climate system.
