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Efforts by the United Nations to ease rules for carbon-cuttingprojects may encourage investments in small-scale projects in solar water heaters and efficient cookstoves in Africa and Asia. The UN Clean Development Mechanism s Executive Board, regulator ofthe world s second-biggest carbon market by traded volume, agreedlast week to consider ways to quicken the approval procedure forsome emission-reduction activities. The new process would help easedifficulties facing projects that produce fewer emission reductionsthan others, including those that create usable fuel from animaldung and renewable energy initiatives small enough to power alight-bulb. It s definitely a good thing, Gareth Phillips, chiefclimate change officer at Sindicatum Sustainable Resources Group, aSingapore-based developer of carbon offset projects, said in aphone interview from Jakarta yesterday. Small-scale projectssometimes end up being more complex and harder to do thannormal-scale projects, because the methodologies are shorter andsometimes didn t address questions that the auditors andregulators had, so they were left hanging. Small-scale projectsare defined by the UN as those generating less than 15,000 tons ofcredits a year. Favored-activities list UN Certified Emission Reduction credits for delivery in Decemberhave slumped 71 percent in the last 12 months to 3.65 euros ($4.69)a metric ton. The price plunged as a rush of investments boostedsupplies while a failure of nations to agree on a global climatedeal left the Europe Union, where CERs can be used for compliancewith the bloc s emissions trading system, as the main market forUN credits. They traded at a record low of 3.27 euros lastmonth. China produces almost two-thirds of all credits, thefirst of which were issued in 2005. The Executive Board wants to consider expanding a list of favoredactivities to include those that produce fewer offsets, accordingto a May 11 statement. The list identifies projects that areautomatically deemed to require emission credits to make themfinancially viable, or additional. CF Partners, a London-based fund that invests in emissions- cuttingprojects and matches credits to buyers, said it has funded ruralbiogas projects, which can be more difficult to develop despite theemissions savings and improvement in quality of life forcommunities they bring. The validation process is challenging when compared with moreproven methodologies, David Crowe, primary portfolio managerat CF Partners, said by e-mail. Streamlining this process wouldencourage us to increase our investment in similar projects. Validation stage The CDM Executive Board, which met to discuss new regulations lastweek in Bonn, also wants to look at slimming down or skipping theso-called validation stage, an early check to ensure a project willactually cut emissions and so may be approved to win credits. Sindicatum said expanding the favored-activities list may make itquicker, easier and probably cheaper for some projects to getthrough the approval process. The list would allow the ExecutiveBoard to automatically deem some projects as additional, ratherthan seeking proof from each one that extra revenue from offsets isneeded to make it viable. About a quarter of the world s population doesn t have access tomodern cooking fuels or electricity, forcing people to usekerosene-burning lamps for light, and wood and charcoal to cookfood and boil water to make it safe for drinking, according to UNEnvironment Program figures. Exciting initiative The new process may tempt investors to back projects previouslybypassed in favor of industrial investments that generate morecredits, such as those in China and India linked tohydro-fluorocarbons and adipic acid which make up 62 percent of allcredits issued so far. This is an exciting initiative because it could spur a greatmany, very beneficial projects in regions that have yet to fullybenefit from the CDM, Maosheng Duan, chairman of the ExecutiveBoard, said in the e-mailed statement. The next step is to comeup with a workable proposal, one that reduces transaction costs yetensures that the emission reductions produced are real, measurableand additional. Since the carbon offset program started accepting applications in2003, it has taken more than a year on average for projects tocomplete the so-called validation stage. That time has shrunk toabout 250 days on average for projects, according to figures forApril based on analysis from the UN Environment Program s RisoeCenter. Comfort for investors Skipping a validation stage is done for some programs that createvoluntary credits, which are used by corporations and individualswishing to voluntarily offset emissions rather than doing so tocomply with any laws. Even so, the validation stage gives investorsconfidence before committing money to projects, and removing thatstep may deter investment, Phillips said. From an investor s point of view there is some comfort knowingthat your project has been registered before you move ahead with aninvestment, he said. The UN s carbon market was created by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol,an agreement ratified by 191 countries, excluding the US, that setemissions limits for developed countries in the eight years throughto 2012. The market is governed by rules agreed under the MarrakechAccords in 2001. Nations are meeting this week in Bonn, to continuenegotiations on climate protection agreements after 2012. I am an expert from scrolltabletpc.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Quad Band Android Phone , Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard, Quad Band Android Phone,and more.
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