Options to enhance and improve the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) ETC/ACC Technical Paper 2008/15

Introduction
This report provides an overview on the challenges and outlines options how the CDM can be further improved and enhanced. The report focuses on issues that have been of particular interest in the recent research and that have been subject to discussions in formal and informal consultations on a post-2012 climate regime and the review of the Kyoto Protocol under its Article 9.
The report first explores how the effective functioning of the CDM can be improved by improving the governance arrangements of the CDM Executive Board and ensuring an effective validation and verification by Designated Operational Entities. It analyses (i) how the demonstration of additionality – a key requirement for the environmental integrity of the CDM – can be improved and be based on more objective criteria, and (ii) the contribution of the CDM to sustainable development and identifies options how the sustainable development benefits of CDM projects can be enhanced. Furthermore, it looks into sectors that are currently underrepresented in the CDM and it analyses how the CDM can be transformed to a mechanism with global atmospheric benefits for a post-2012 climate regime. Finally, the report provides conclusions and an outlook.

Prepared by: ETC/ACC member Lambert Schneider (Öko-Institut)

Published by: ETC/ACC, December 2008, 46 pp.