CDM host country institution building

Contrary to earlier forecasts, the global greenhouse gas market will initially be characterised by low prices and a strong competition between the different Kyoto Mechanisms. The CDM involves higher transaction costs than the other mechanisms and has lost a considerable share of its ‘early start’ advantage due to the continuous delays in defining the CDM rules on the international level. Host countries will have to compete intensively for CDM investments. Thus the development of effective institutions is crucial to reap benefits from this market, especially if a unilateral strategy is chosen. Countries should develop approval criteria and sectoral priorities in a broad stakeholder consultation. Moreover, capacity building of local actors, information exchange as well as marketing has to be organised. Experience from several countries shows that clear competencies are crucial to get investor confidence. Long-term professional staff is also an important asset. Fights between ministries will scare off investors. The optimum institution will be a CDM Office that is independent but has full approval powers. A second-best solution is a two-tiered system. A CDM Board with representatives of ministries would define criteria and priorities whereas a CDM Secretariat would evaluate (and possibly approve) project proposals and do outreach and marketing. Small countries would preferably use the existing focal point of the UNFCCC and flexibly involve consultants if project proposalscome in. Even under an optimal institutional structure, CDM projects will only be implemented if financing and contractual issues can be resolved. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Baseline options and greenhouse gas emission reduction of clean development mechanism project in urban solid waste management

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was adopted in the Kyoto Protocol as a flexibility mechanism to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) and has been started with such projects as improving efficiency of individual technology. Although applying various countermeasures to urban areas has significant potentials for reducing GHGs, these countermeasures have not been proposed as CDM projects in the practical stage. A CDM project needs to be validated that it will reduce GHGs additionally compared with a baseline, that is, a predictive value of GHG emissions in the absence of the project. This study examined the introduction of solid waste incineration with electricity generation into three different cities, A, B and C. The combination of main solid waste treatment and fuel source are landfill and coal, respectively, in City A, incineration and natural gas in City B, and landfill and hydro in City C. GHG emission reductions of each city under several baseline options assumed here were evaluated. Even if the same technology is introduced, the emission reduction greatly varies according to the current condition and the future plan of the city: 1043–1406 kg CO₂/t of waste in City A, 198–580 kg CO₂/t in City B, and wide range of zero to over 1000 kg CO₂/tin City C. Baseline options also cause significant difference in the emission reduction even in the same city (City C). Incinerating solid waste after removing plastics by source separation in City B increased GHG emission reduction potential up to 730–900 kg CO₂/t, which enhances the effectiveness as a CDM project. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Potential of Co2 emission reductions by carbonizing biomass waste from industrial tree plantation in South Sumatra,Indonesia

Approximately half of the carbon in trees can be fixed to charcoal by carbonization. Porous charcoal is useful as a soil amendment for crop fields and forests, and also as a water purifying agent. Given these facts, charcoal production should be recognized as one of the most promising CO₂ sequestration methods. A project on biomass utilization and forest conservation is proposed as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project, by incorporating the carbonization of biomass residue and waste from tree plantations and pulp mills, and also the utilization of carbon products in various fields. A feasibility study was conducted with the existing project of an industrial tree plantation and pulp production in Indonesia. If conventional charcoal-making methods are used, a total of 368,000 t yr^-1 of biomass residue and waste could be transformed into charcoal of77,000 t yr^-1, and the carbon emission reductions by the project reaches 62,000t-C yr^-1 (or 230,000 t-CO₂yr^-1) in consideration of the project baseline. This charcoal project could provide jobs for approximately 2,600people. The soil fertility in man-made forests could be maintained by returning charcoal to the original forests. Therefore, the project would be beneficial to the regional economy. In addition, the present charcoal project is expected to give more positive impacts than negative ones, or leakage, beyond the project boundary. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Smallholder Agroforestry Systems For Carbon Storage

Most smallholder agroforestry systems in Southeast Asia are tree- and species-rich systems producing non-wood and wood products for both home use and market sale. Due to their high biomass, these systems contain large carbon (C) stocks. While the systems of individual farmers are of limited size, on a per area basis smallholder systems accumulate significant amounts of C, equaling the amount of C stored in some secondary forests of similar age. Their ability to simultaneously address smallholders’ livelihood needs and store large amounts of C makes smallholder systems viable project types under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, with its dual objective of emissions reduction and sustainable development. Smallholder systems have not developed in areas where enabling conditions do not exist. A CDM project that facilitates a minimum threshold of enabling conditions that make smallholder agroforestation possible should qualify for C credits. To secure smallholder confidence, the agroforestry systems promoted through a CDM project must be socially and economically viable independent of C payments. To assure system productivity and profitability, projects should provide farmers with technical and marketing assistance. Additionally, project sites should meet the following preconditions: areas of underutilized low-biomass landuse systems available for rehabilitation; smallholders interested in tree farming; accessible markets for tree products; supportive local governments; sufficient infrastructure; and transparent and equitable relationships between project partners. Questions of leakage and additionality should not be problematic and can be addressed through the project design, establishment of quantifiable baseline data and facilitating enabling conditions. However, smallholder-focused CDM projects would have high transaction costs. The subsequent challenge is thus to develop mechanisms that reduce the costs of: (a) making information (e.g., technology, markets) more accessible to multiple clients; (b) facilitating and enforcing smallholder agreements and (c) designing feasible monitoring systems.     

UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism Baseline Construction for Vietnam National Electricity Grid

For projects under the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a baseline has to be set to allow calculation of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved. An important obstacle to CDM project development is the lack of data for baseline definition; often project developers do not have access to data and therefore incur high transaction costs to collect them. The government of Vietnam has set up all necessary institutions for CDM, wants to promote CDM projects and thus is interested to reduce transaction costs. We calculate emission factors of the Vietnam electricity grid according to the rules defined by the CDM Executive Board for small scale projects and for large renewable electricity generation projects. The emission factors lie between 365 and 899 g CO₂/kWh depending on the specification. The weighted operating and build margin reaches 600 g for 2003, while grid average reaches 399 g. Using three-year averages, a combined build and operating margin of 705 g is calculated. We hope that these data facilitate CDM project development in the electricity supply and energy efficiency improvement in Vietnam.     

上海开发风电CDM项目的机遇分析

《京都议定书》的正式生效，促进了世界清洁发展机制（cDM）项目的迅速开发。由于上海经济发展迅速，能源消耗较大，有潜力进行CDM项目开发。上海电力是上海能耗较大的行业之一，应该积极进行CDM项目研究。文章分析了国家电力行业开发CDM的主导方向，根据已有方法学的选择原则。上海电力行业首选发展风电CDM项目。探讨了上海发展风力发电项目的潜力和可行性。以辉腾锡勒风电场CDM项目为例，介绍了我国风电CDM项目注册成功的经验。     

Project-Based Emissions Trading: The Impact of Institutional Arrangements on Cost-Effectiveness

In this paper we demonstrate that the institutionalarrangement (or: design) of Joint Implementation (JI) and the CleanDevelopment Mechanism (CDM) has a decisive impact on theircost-effectiveness. We illustrate our arguments by statistically analyzing thecosts from 94 Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) pilot phase projects aswell as by adjusting these data on the basis of simple mathematicalformulas. These calculations explicitly take into account the institutionaldifferences between JI (sinks, no banking) and the CDM (banking, no sinks)under the Kyoto Protocol and also show the possible effects on credit costsof alternative design options. However, our numerical illustrations shouldbe viewed with caution, because AIJ is only to a limited extentrepresentative of potential future JI and CDM projects and because creditcosts are not credit prices. Some of the main figures found in this study are:an average cost figure per unit of emission reduction for AIJ projects of 46dollar per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent ($/Mg CO₂-eq), anaverage potential JI credit cost figure which is lowered to 37$/Mg CO₂-eq by introducing banking and an average of 6$/Mg CO₂-eq per credit for potential low-cost CDM projects whichincludes sinks. However, at CoP6 in November 2000 in The Hague (TheNetherlands), the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change(FCCC) did not (yet) reach consensus on the institutional details of theproject-based mechanisms, such as the possible arrangement of early JIaction or the inclusion of sinks under the CDM.     

清洁发展机制中的额外性问题探讨

清洁发展机制(CDM)是国际社会应对全球气候变化所作努力的一个重要部分。就清洁发展机制实施中的关键问题之一——额外性问题（additionality)进行了细致的探讨。分析了额外性的基本含义，各个不同国家在这个问题上的观点，各种不同判断准则的合理性和可操作性等。提出了额外性的层次等重要概念。     

中国清洁发展机制法律制度探讨

根据《京都议定书》关于清洁发展机制(Clean Development Mechanism,CDM)的目标、设立条件、步骤和监管制度的规定,指出了中国在实施清洁发展机制中所获得的环境、社会和经济方面的巨大利益,同时,也分析了目前中国实施清洁发展机制在项目发展规模、潜在项目识别、额外行证明、CER法律权属界定、项目签发等方面存在的问题。文章结合国际社会清洁发展制度的趋势走向,预测在今后相当长的时期内清洁发展机制仍将作为全球温室气体减排的有效制度而存在,并将对CDM宗旨重新定位和完善CDM项目具体实施制度。还根据国际形势变化,对2012年后中国清洁发展机制的法律制度建设提出了具体的建议:应尽快出台一部能源基本法,使得包括清洁能源机制在内的应对气候变化的措施能够有法可依。立法中应重点确立能源可持续发展原则,具体规定CDM项目适格标准、改变传统一元所有权模式,明确CER法律权属和所有权、完善CDM项目监管制度,以限制CDM项目单纯追求经济效益的危险性、加强CDM服务行业规范,提高CER签发率。     

CDM项目大气污染物减排的协同效应研究

为了CDM项目的优化开发和大气污染物的协同控制,就国内CDM项目的污染物减排协同效应进行了分析.在统计其项目年减排量、总投资额以及协同减排系数的基础上,按不同项目类型(零排放的可再生能源、生物质、甲烷废气回收、燃料替代、煤层气回收、水泥原料替代、N2O分解消除以及节能和提高能效)和不同项目所在地(华中、华东、海南、华北、东北、西北以及华南)分析了项目的SO2、NOx和PM2.5协同减排量和投资减排收益.燃料替代、煤层气回收、节能提高能效类项目的投资减排收益高,华中和华东地区的生物质能源项目收益较高,而风电、水电类项目收益较低.