Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
their emissions. There were some strict binding
rules about emissions generation for those
countries that are responsible for producing high
GHG emissions into the atmosphere. The impor-
tant thing that arouse from the Kyoto Protocols
was the introduction of three fl exible mecha-
nisms, viz. emission trading, joint implementa-
tion and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
Basically, CDM was an important mechanism
established under Article 12 of the Kyoto
Protocol. It was completely dedicated to climate
change and other environmental problems. The
most important objective of the Kyoto Protocol
was the promotion of sustainable development in
developing countries (non-Annex I countries)
and control emissions in developed countries
(Annex I countries).
the other constituents of GHG discussed in the
previous section (CH
4
, N
2
O, etc.) are also
expressed in “tonnes of CO
2
”. In fact 1 tonne of
CO
2
reduction corresponds to one CER. A
developing country having projects with emis-
sions reduction objectives can sell its CERs.
Proper promotion, implementation and super-
vision are essentially required for the effective
development of CDM projects. Therefore, an
executive panel properly known as the CDM
Executive Board (EB) was formed especially for
the supervision of CDM projects in the
Conference of Parties (COP) 7 held in Marrakech,
Morocco, from October 29 to November 10,
2001. The board comprised members of parties
of the Kyoto Protocol. To execute various activi-
ties of promotion, implementation and supervi-
sion of CDM projects, EB gives authority to
some organisations and fi rms known as desig-
nated operational entities (DOEs). In COP 7,
Marrakech, certain norms and criteria were
formed for CDM registration which are fi nally
conceded in the COP held in New Delhi, India,
from October 23 to November 1, 2002, and all
the projects willing to register under CDM must
follow the norms.
A CDM project follows a cycle from planning
to implementation which is shown in Fig.
3
. The
fi rst stage of this cycle is project development in
which a document of project proposal which is
known as project design document is prepared.
The next step is project approval by the host
country, and the designated national authority of
the country issues a project approval letter (essen-
tially required) to the owner. After this, project
validation is done in which the project design
document is verifi ed by a DOE. After project
validation the design document is eligible for
registration process. So the design document is
sent to the EB for registration. When the registra-
tion process is over, then the project monitoring
is done in which the owner of the project checks
and monitors the emissions reduction associated
with the project and sends another to a DOE. A
DOE audits the emissions reduction sent by the
owner. If the claimed emissions reduction is
found satisfactory, then a DOE approves and cer-
tifi es the project. Finally, the project owner gets
the CERs issued by the EB.
2
CDM: An Overview
As discussed, emission trading, joint implemen-
tation and CDM were the three mechanisms
included in the Kyoto Protocol. Among these
three mechanisms, CDM may be really effective
for developed countries to reduce their emis-
sions. In addition to this, it is also benefi cial for
countries to promote sustainable development
in developing countries (Philibert
2000
). It is a
well offsetting mechanism which promotes
emissions reduction trading by promoting sus-
tainable projects as well as projects having low
emissions. Sustainable development in develop-
ing countries as an objective of CDM acts as a
platform to increase the growth rate of develop-
ing countries. CDM has come out not only as a
methodology but as a big market in which many
projects have been registered in the world, out
of which some have been established and some
are in the implementing stage. Trading of emis-
sion credit known as certifi ed emission reduc-
tions (CERs) is the main part that comes under
CDM. All the advantages of CDM projects
especially emissions reduction are expressed in
CERs. It is all the matter of reduction GHG
emissions and CO
2
is the primary constituent of
GHG and that is why CERs are generally
expressed in terms of “tonnes of CO
2
” emis-
Search WWH ::
Custom Search