Whither the CDM? Investment outcomes and future prospects

Following an abrupt fall in carbon credit prices, 2012 has witnessed a disinterest on behalf of investors in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). In this paper, we aim to take a step back and provide an assessment of the CDM through a careful analysis of 6 instrument evaluation criteria. Our study indicates that, despite the important number of projects developed under the CDM, the initial ambition of a scheme that would contribute to sustainable development in developing countries has not materialised. Moreover, the environmental integrity of numerous projects is seriously questioned. Given the interaction of the mechanism with other national policies, notably in the renewable sector, the search of carbon reduction opportunities does not lead to cost-effective abatements. If the CDM governance does not score really well in terms of predictability, the mechanism’s transparency is an example for the development of future climate and development policies at a multilateral level. Finally, the lack of consideration for the demand side of the offset mechanism seriously jeopardises the persistence of this instrument. Therefore, we recommend that any CDM reform considers the demand side, for instance through the setting of a guaranteed minimum price coupled with an obligation of repurchase. One cannot expect progress in host countries if new sources of demand for carbon credits are not rapidly created in developed countries.     

The role of the clean development mechanism in achieving China��s goal of a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly society

This paper examines the impact of the clean development mechanism (CDM) on China??s progress in building a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly society, referred to as a dual-goal society. It presents China??s CDM activities from the perspective of policy directions, administrative arrangements and capacity building as well as outlines the regional trends and distribution of CDM projects across China??s 30 provinces. Based on regression analysis of 2006?C2009 panel data, the research was able to provide estimates at provincial level of the impacts of CDM activities on China??s CO₂ emission intensity, SO₂ emission intensity and industrial dust emission intensity. The study concludes that the active CDM projects are mainly located in the less-developed central and west China where they have provided increased opportunities for sustainable development. Furthermore, the successful implementation of CDM projects across the country has significantly decreased the emission intensity of CO₂, SO₂ and industrial dust, which means that these activities have enhanced China??s ability to build the desired dual-goal society.     

CDM Projects under the Kyoto Protocol: A Methodology for Sustainability Assessment – Experiences from South Africa and Uruguay

Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, industrialised countries may finance greenhouse gases mitigation projects in developing countries. The Kyoto Protocol explicitly requires that the CDM shall assist developing countries to achieve sustainable development. However, a clear definition of sustainability for CDM projects is still debatable. MATA-CDM (Multi-Attributive Assessment of CDM Projects) is an approach that facilitates a quantitative assessment of potential projects regarding their contribution to sustainable development. This paper presents applications of MATA-CDM in two different countries. In South Africa, the application was done mainly for academic and demonstrative purposes, whereas in Uruguay it was implemented together with the responsible Designated National Authority (DNA). The work in both countries included the selection of sustainability criteria and measurable indicators. Experts weighted the criteria using personal interviews and a multi-stakeholder workshop. This method was applied to three potential CDM projects in South Africa and one in Uruguay. Results show that under the conditions of this study, the MATA-CDM approach yet fails to yield a perfect quantitative overall sustainability assessment of CDM projects but that several findings could be useful to further develop the approach with the aim to translate the vague term sustainable development to a mainstream project level. Valuable experience was in particular collected with different stakeholder processes to perform criteria weighting.     

The Role of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in␣Promoting the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Africa

This article outlines some of the latest developments and opportunities for development finance institutions¹ (DFIs) to become directly supportive of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM²) in Africa. In striving to make development financing more environmentally friendly and sustainable, DFIs can play a key role in promoting the CDM on the African continent by providing monetary incentives through their project financing activities; encouraging and facilitating partnerships in support of sustainable development, particularly with reference to the CDM, and; providing technical advice and support to clients with regard to project design, planning and implementation. DFIs have traditionally focused on financing infrastructure and poverty alleviation projects. However, the emergence of the CDM has brought about a shift towards investments in services and products that reduce carbon dioxide emissions and encourage investments in environmentally friendly technologies. This can be ascribed in part to the development of a “carbon market” under the auspices of the Kyoto Protocol that took effect in February 2005. The carbon market and emerging carbon funds are some of the main drivers enabling DFIs to play an increasingly important role in promoting the CDM in Africa.     

China''''s CDM Policies and Their Development Implications:Major Concerns for CDM Implementation

Most CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) opportunities exist in some large industrializing developing countries. For instance, China is estimated to take 48% of the world potential for CDM project activities. In reality, however, the share by China over the CDM projects registered and CDM projects in the pipeline is less than 10% as of Auguest 2005. This paper will examine the reasons behind, as reflected in China's CDM policies. Further investigation will be made into the use of these policies to boost the country's sustainable development, the sustainable development implications and effects of these policies. In addition, it is noted that incompatibility of some other Chinese laws and policies can be responsible for the low level and slow pace of CDM implementation in China and some suggestions are offered for promoting CDM project activities in China. There also exist barriers at the international level that impedes implementation of CDM project activities. A conclusion is drawn that CDM policies in a developing country like China aim mainly at promotion of sustainable development and to a lesser extent the generation of CERs.     

The clean development mechanism—catalyst for wide spread deployment of renewable energy technologies? or misnomer?

The (usually not professed) truth is that we are not destroying the planet due to lack of technology, but due to lack of application of technology. Indeed, opportunities exist for renewable energy technologies’ diffusion under the new climate change regime as they contribute to global sustainability through GHG mitigation and, they conform to national priorities by leading to the enhancement of local economic activity, capacities and infrastructure. The clean development mechanism (CDM), although is considered one of the global policy tools to contribute to sustainable development and technology transfer, has recently been criticised for its unequal distribution of projects across countries and for insufficiently being embedded in developing countries’ national energy context. In the above framework, this article presents the ENTTRANS approach, five indicative renewable energy technologies, and insights about a more effective application of CDM, which may be part of the international process striving towards sustainable development.     

Entrepreneurship in climate governance at the local and regional levels: concepts,methods, patterns,and effects

This editorial sets the scene for a special issue on climate governance entrepreneurship at the local and regional levels. To make climate governance work, much policy activity is needed at the local and regional levels. Entrepreneurs are actors who aim to affect change by using their agency. They target policy decisions at the local and regional levels, which might subsequently turn to other governance levels to expand their influence. The scientific discussion about governance entrepreneurs is characterized by a lack of conceptual clarity, by methodological challenges, and by several research gaps. Regarding the latter, at present, it is especially unclear when and why entrepreneurs become active, which factors they take into account when they select their strategies, and what explains the effects of entrepreneurial activity on the emergence of innovations in climate governance. All contributions to this special issue engage with one or several of these conceptual, methodological, and empirical challenges, thus advancing the state of art in the field. Highlights from the special issue include the development of a simple conceptual frame that connects actors, contexts, strategies, and outcomes in a systematic way. Some promising methodological avenues are described, since the special issue contains not only some qualitative case studies but also some studies that take a long-term perspective by following policy development for decades, and a study that proposes a census approach. Empirically, the contributions in this special issue shed light on a range of factors explaining levels of entrepreneurial activity, and they carefully trace impacts over time. We conclude by sketching an agenda for further work in this realm.

     

The challenges of water,waste and climate change in cities

Cities play a prominent role in our economic development as more than 80 % of the gross world product (GWP) comes from cities. Only 600 urban areas with just 20 % of the world population generate 60 % of the GWP. Rapid urbanization, climate change, inadequate maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructures and poor solid waste management may lead to flooding, water scarcity, water pollution, adverse health effects and rehabilitation costs that may overwhelm the resilience of cities. These megatrends pose urgent challenges in cities as the cost of inaction is high. We present an overview about population growth, urbanization, water, waste, climate change, water governance and transitions. Against this background, we discuss the categorization of cities based on our baseline assessments, i.e. our City Blueprint research on 45 municipalities and regions predominantly in Europe. With this bias towards Europe in mind, the challenges can be discussed globally by clustering cities into distinct categories of sustainability and by providing additional data and information from global regions. We distinguish five categories of sustainability: (1) cities lacking basic water services, (2) wasteful cities, (3) water-efficient cities, (4) resource-efficient and adaptive cities and (5) water-wise cities. Many cities in Western Europe belong to categories 3 and 4. Some cities in Eastern Europe and the few cities we have assessed in Latin America, Asia and Africa can be categorized as cities lacking basic water services. Lack of water infrastructures or obsolete infrastructures, solid waste management and climate adaptation are priorities. It is concluded that cities require a long-term framing of their sectoral challenges into a proactive and coherent Urban Agenda to maximize the co-benefits of adaptation and to minimize the cost. Furthermore, regional platforms of cities are needed to enhance city-to-city learning and to improve governance capacities necessary to accelerate effective and efficient transitions towards water-wise cities. These learning alliances are needed as the time window to solve the global water governance crisis is narrow and rapidly closing. The water sector can play an important role but needs to reframe and refocus radically.     

Sustainability indicators for clean development mechanism projects in Vietnam

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the flexible instruments of the Kyoto Protocol designed to combat climate change so as to bring advantages to developing countries and developed countries alike. Indeed, CDM projects have a two-fold objective: to offset greenhouse gas emissions and to contribute to sustainable development in the host country. However in many cases, the latter objective appears to be marginalized. This is at least partly due to the difficulties surrounding the definition and the measurement of sustainability, in particular in a developing country context. To assess CDM projects’ contribution to sustainable development in the host country, scholars and practitioners need adapted indicator sets. A set of indicators were developed by way of an iterative Delphi approach amongst selected Vietnamese experts. The Delphi approach allowed a systematic collection of the experts’ judgements on the sustainability indicators through a set of sequentially applied questionnaires, interspersed with feedback from earlier responses. This exercise resulted in the selection of a set of 36 indicators, which emphasise economic efficiency, public health and pollution issues. The exercise yielded a locally supported and context-specific set of sustainability indicators that will allow Vietnamese decision-makers to enhance the sustainability of the approved CDM projects. In the future this set should be continually improved through real-life application and further participation from local stakeholders. This study is a first step in a long-term process towards developing an adapted toolkit for sustainability assessment of CDM projects in Vietnam.     

Is the Clean Development Mechanism delivering benefits to the poorest communities in the developing world? A critical evaluation and proposals for reform

This paper explores whether the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a flexibility mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol, has contributed to poverty alleviation in countries that host CDM projects. We argue that the CDM should deliver pro-poor benefits to the communities in which projects are established, since poverty alleviation is integral to sustainable development, which is one of the main purposes of the CDM. After briefly discussing the background of the CDM, we discuss assessment difficulties to which research is prone when evaluating CDM projects for alleged sustainable development contributions. Section 4 brings together and analyses available empirical research on the pro-poor benefits the CDM purportedly delivers to host country communities, concluding that the CDM has failed to deliver poverty alleviation. Therefore, without attempting to be exhaustive, we suggest policy reforms that aim to redirect the CDM to those most in need of assistance.     

跨国气候伙伴关系治理及其对中国的启示

《巴黎协定》为全球应对气候变化确立了"自下而上"的治理路径,有助于增强各类行为体的参与动力,而后续的巴黎进程更适用于建立以跨国气候伙伴关系为代表的治理模式。在这一模式下,主要施动者是地方政府和包括气候NGO、市民社会在内的非国家行为体。他们不仅在议程设定、透明度、监督执行和代表利益攸关方等方面具有不可替代的作用,而且还具有擅长短期本土化项目管理等优势。本文从国际关系的跨国行为体视角出发,对这类伙伴关系的兴起及其合法性、有效性进行分析,所获得的基本结论为:(1)各国达成《巴黎协定》的内在逻辑有助于跨国伙伴关系发挥作用;(2)当前跨国气候伙伴关系参与全球气候治理的路径呈现不断制度化的趋势;(3)跨国伙伴关系治理的合法性和有效性具有一定特殊性;(4)非国家行为体在参与治理的过程中逐渐交叉,更易形成联盟且相关的观念外溢也更为便利。这一新兴治理关系对中国的启示包括:(1)重新审视非国家行为体在全球气候治理中的作用;(2)评估一些具有重大影响力的跨国伙伴关系,并适当鼓励国内相关机构和组织参与全球进程;(3)在国内层面,以渐进的方式,有针对性地参与、建立一些跨国气候伙伴关系,有助于提升中国的城市与地方政府的气候治理能力;(4)在国际合作中,利用非国家行为体的优势推动中国所提出的南南气候合作倡议及相关项目的落实,进一步提升中国气候治理的话语权,并弥补资金、技术及能力建设上的不足。     

Beyond behaviour change: technological artefacts and characterological development

Addressing the root causes of (un)sustainability entails fundamentally changing our ways of living. This requires going beyond technology and behaviour-oriented approaches common under the umbrella of sustainable development (SD). More fundamental change is required to increase the possibility of realizing ecological and psychological well-being. Here, such change is conceptualized as ‘characterological change’. Next to SD another domain is introduced: characterological development (CD). The potential role of design-interventions in CD is explored in this article. Two studies were conducted, a literature study and experts interviews, covering the fields of Design for Sustainable Behaviour, Persuasive Technology, Practice-Oriented Design and Philosophy of Technology. The literature study shows that current research and interventions predominantly fall within the domain of SD, leaving character and related notions largely unaddressed. The expert interviews (n = 10) show a consensus that (design) research concerning the relation between technological artefacts and human character would be valuable. Research challenges and opportunities for design towards ‘living the good life within ecological means’ are discussed.     

A Comparative Study on the Implementation of CDM Projects in India

Since the Clean Development Mechanism(CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol was initiated,China and India have overwhelmingly led other developing countries regarding CDM projects development.A comparative study of the CDM in India and China is conducted as there are many similarities between both India and China with regard to the CDM implementation due to the fact that India is another major developing country with a large population and a potential source of GHG emissions rivaling China in the near future.Through examining the development of and legal issues for CDM projects in India,its experience and lessons regarding developing and managing CDM projects that China can critically learn are discussed.     

Geo-based model of intrinsic resilience to climate change: an approach to nature-based solution

A substantial amount of researches have been done on the understanding and assessment of resilience from multiple perspectives, e.g., ecological, social, economic, and disaster management; however, recent international approach is trending toward more systematic and comprehensive risk assessment processes. Pivotal element of such approach is to emphasizing on promoting resilience in the face of climate change impacts. Conceptualization and identification of parameters to assess climate change resilience is one of the remaining challenges that academia is facing. Reviewing the principles of the climate change resilience highlighted in the literature, the goal of this study is to introduce a theoretical model about the climate change resilience concept to facilitate and enhance future climate change resilience-related researches. The model proposed in this study is named as the climate change resilience of place (C-CROP) model, a geo-based model which is designed to assess climate change resilience for any geographic region with an approach to the incorporation of nature-based solution (NBS). C-CROP model considers vulnerability, exposure, sensitivity to climate change on one side; another side is co-benefit, climate proofing, and disservices of proposed NBS. An operational framework of the C-CROP model is also proposed, that allows spatially explicit assessment of climate change resilience in real world by developing an indicator-based framework and comprehensive mapping using the geospatial approach. Therefore, this model includes vulnerability hotspots identification; better understanding of the pathways of resilience; and solutions (i.e., NBS) to infer the impacts and effectiveness of resilience-building interventions.

     

A methodology for estimating health benefits of electricity generation using renewable technologies

At Copenhagen, the developed countries agreed to provide up to $100 bn per year to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation by developing countries. Projects aimed at cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will need to be evaluated against dual criteria: from the viewpoint of the developed countries they must cut emissions of GHGs at reasonable cost, while host countries will assess their contribution to development, or simply their overall economic benefits. Co-benefits of some types of project will also be of interest to host countries: for example some projects will contribute to reducing air pollution, thus improving the health of the local population.This paper uses a simple damage function methodology to quantify some of the health co-benefits of replacing coal-fired generation with wind or small hydro in China. We estimate the monetary value of these co-benefits and find that it is probably small compared to the added costs. We have not made a full cost-benefit analysis of renewable energy in China as some likely co-benefits are omitted from our calculations. Our results are subject to considerable uncertainty however, after careful consideration of their likely accuracy and comparisons with other studies, we believe that they provide a good first cut estimate of co-benefits and are sufficiently robust to stand as a guide for policy makers.In addition to these empirical results, a key contribution made by the paper is to demonstrate a simple and reasonably accurate methodology for health benefits estimation that applies the most recent academic research in the field to the solution of an increasingly important problem.     

清洁发展机制与中国碳排放交易市场的构建

清洁发展机制是《京都议定书》创设的实现全球碳减排目标的三大灵活机制之一,为我国的可持续发展作出了重大贡献,但其在我国运行中存在的问题也对我国参与国际碳市场和构建国内碳市场带来了风险与障碍.针对于此,本文对中国清洁发展机制项目的类型、数量、注册、签发等情况进行对比,发现我国虽然项目众多,但发展极不平衡.在此基础上,分析了中国清洁发展机制存在的主要问题,包括法律保障机制缺失,项目减排潜力发挥不充分,缺乏对转让技术的科学评估等.然后,通过介绍国际碳排放交易市场发展的不确定性和在2012年“后京都时期”的发展趋势,揭示了中国在这一过程中所承担的项目投资减少、成本增加等市场风险以及“碳泄漏”等环境风险.针对上述问题和风险,本文提出以现有清洁发展机制经验为基础构建中国国内碳排放交易市场的基本思路,即建立以排放交易法律体系为基础,以自愿碳交易市场构建为起点,以完善的监督管理体系为保障的中国碳排放交易机制.     

Climate Engagement in a Digital Age: Exploring the Drivers of Participation in Climate Discourse Online in the Context of COP21

Various scholars underscore the importance of public engagement with climate change to successfully respond to the challenges of global warming. However, although online media provide various new opportunities to actively engage in climate discourse so far very little is known about the drivers of this form of engagement. Against this background, this study tested a theoretical model on the effects of media and interpersonal communication on participation in climate discourse online using data from a representative online survey of German citizens (n?=?1392) carried out while COP21. Overall, the results show that receiving information on climate change from social media (social networks, Twitter, blogs), active information seeking online and interpersonal conversations about COP21 strongly encourage participation in climate discourse online. Moreover, results provide relevant insights on the role of interest in climate politics, personal issue relevance and climate scepticism as preconditions of communication effects.     

中国垃圾填埋气回收利用CDM项目现状与对策

根据最新数据,运用统计学方法,从总体情况、地理分布、国际比较、国外合作方和开发机构4个方面分析了当前我国垃圾填埋气回收利用CDM项目发展的现状：与其他类型CDM项目相比,垃圾填埋气回收利用项目规模小,估计年减排量少;项目签发量远少于设计估算的年减排量;年批准项目数增长快,项目主要分布在我国东部、中部地区及省会城市和计划单列市;相比其它类型的CDM项目,中国在垃圾填埋气回收利用CDM项目上位于全球第二位,而拉美国家占据优先;项目主要的国际合作方为欧盟国家。最后总结了项目开发发展中遇到的主要问题,并提出解决问题的多项政策建议     

Problems of cross-scale coastal management in Scandinavia

Transdisciplinary knowledge integration and cross-scale management remain challenges in coastal management after several decades of research and experience with integrated and sustainable coastal management. The aim of this paper is to identify requirements for knowledge integration and development of multi-scale approaches to coastal management through reviewing and re-analysing three Swedish-European research projects: the SUCOZOMA project about sustainable coastal zone management, the FRAP project about conflicts between coastal fishery and species protection, and the SECOA project about solutions to contrasts in coastal metropolitan areas. The strategy of adaptive governance is considered in the light of its ability to assess knowledge requirements for sustainable resource management under conditions of climate change.     

Coevolving Ostrom’s social–ecological systems (SES) framework and sustainability science: four key co-benefits

Research on social–ecological systems (SES) is scattered across many disciplines and perspectives. As a result, much of the knowledge generated between different communities is not comparable, mutually aggregate or easily communicated to nonspecialists despite common goals to use academic knowledge for advancing sustainability. This article proposes a conceptual pathway to address this challenge through outlining how the SES research contributions of sustainability science and researchers using Elinor Ostrom’s diagnostic SES framework (SESF) can integrate and co-benefit from explicitly interlinking their development. From a review of the literature, I outline four key co-benefits from their potential to interlink in the following themes: (1) coevolving SES knowledge types, (2) guiding primary research and assessing sustainability, (3) building a boundary object for transdisciplinary sustainability science, and (4) facilitating comparative analysis. The origins of the SESF include seminal empirical work on common property theory, self-organization, and coupled SES interactions. The SESF now serves as a template for diagnosing sustainability challenges and theorizing explanatory relationships on SES components, interactions, and outcomes within and across case studies. Simultaneously, sustainability science has proposed transdisciplinary research agendas, sustainability knowledge types, knowledge coproduction, and sustainability assessment tools to advance transformative change processes. Key challenges for achieving co-beneficial developments in both communities are discussed in relation to each of the four themes. Evident pathways for advancing SES research are also presented along with a guideline for designing SES research within this co-aligned vision.