Outsourcing Emissions: Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as Ecological Modernisation - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 278

non-corporate, non-state and non-expert contributions toward climate stability
(Lohmann 2006). However, the effective engagement of other stakeholders is con-
fined not only because the performance standards are set in scientific terms that
are decipherable only to experts; it is also because of, as Lövbrand et al. (2007)
identify, the arena in which local stakeholders may provide input, which is gener-
ally confined to host governments and DOEs(Designated Operational Entities), is
mediated on a technical level.
One of the operational translations of commodification of atmosphere is the in-
stitutionalization of emission in the form of cap and trade scheme, where the pol-
luters are effectively entitled to pollute at permissible levels. By making carbon
fungible (MacKenzie 2008), wider possibilities of exchange become possible;
where, as Bachram (2004) argues, a polluter can invest in emission reduction pro-
jects and earn credits, keep the unused credits for future or sell them to another
polluter in the open market. On the other hand, a emitter can exceed the 'allowed
emissions' by purchasing additional credits. Thus, the process of outsourcing
emissions does not inherently ensure aggregate emission reduction.
21.3.5 Problem of Incremental Change
The climate change regime and its instruments facilitate incremental changes
rather than radical alterations in addressing the mitigation of climate variations.
The process does not curtail the ongoing industrial practices; rather, it focuses to
augment the current practices. Thereby, it is argued that it leaves a possibility of
perpetuating slow and continuous pollution through environmentally friendly
technologies (MacKenzie 2008).
As the incremental changes within the larger framework do not alter the exist-
ing systems of production, distribution or consumption that are at present designed
based on a high reliance on fossil fuels, it is also argued that the emphasis on
clean-coal technologies could lead to a locking in with the fossil fuel economy
(Kulkarni 2003). On the other hand, the option to externalize emissions from the
industrialized countries through CDM projects may result in the intensification of
ongoing operations, which could result in worse cumulative emissions. Similarly,
Kulkarni (2003) further points out that the cheaper abatement of emissions else-
where may prompt firms in developed countries to avoid any action at home, and
in effect the abatement in the developed countries is nullified by the increasing
emissions at home.
21.4 Conclusion: CDM as Outsourcing Pollution
The article is an overview of the current discussions about CDM in the light of the
EM perspective to see how this emergent mechanism in the climate change regime
illustrates one of the prominent trends in the present direction of environmental
governance. In the initial part, it analysed how CDM as an instrument for GHG