For years now, the global initiative to improve the condition of the environment has brought about many ideas and efforts from countries all over the world. Strong principles such as sustainable development have instigated people from all walks of life to partake in these efforts and recognize more than ever the urgency of our environmental situation.

Still, with the continuous technological advancement and material development in today’s society, it has become a hard task for environmentalists to attract participation to improve the quality of the environment. Theirs is a task that is between the well-being and comfort that today’s world can provide and the worsening ecological conditions of the current times.

Until recently, policy-makers and environmentalists have found ways to make two ends meet. Now, there is no need to sacrifice the environment for the advancement of the quality of life and vice-versa. The global climate protection movement has not only recognized the problem, the urgency, gaps of past suggested solutions but the possibilities of new solutions albeit giving up the continual global economic growth.

It was in 1988 when the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Metrological Organization (WMO) established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a response to the findings of global warming scientists and experts tasked to evaluate the amount of scientific knowledge available on climate change. Through the IPCC, policymakers were provided with authoritative scientific information to evaluate the current conditions then and its socioeconomic impacts. It took only two years for these scientists to conclude that the increasing accumulation of man-made greenhouse gases (GHG) will add to the warming of the earth’s surface. On the same year, the United Nations General Assembly launched negotiations to formulate an international treaty on global climate change protection and in 1991 the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC) was established.

By 1994, the UNFCC was opened for signature with the ultimate objective of stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at safe levels. These levels are to be achieved during a time frame that will allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change without disturbing food supply and allowing economic development to proceed in a manner that was sustainable. The principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” was made concrete as countries were divided into two: Annex I being the industrialized countries and the non-Annex countries which are mostly developing. Annex I countries were mandated to decrease the GHG emissions by the year 2000 to their 1990 levels.

The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 created legally binding obligations for industrialized countries to lower their GHG emissions. Countries were given the option to choose which among the six Protocol enumerated GHGs to reduce: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride. Due to the unelaborated provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, a meeting in Brazil brought about the Marrakech Accords, a more specific guide for its implementation.

The Clean Development Mechanism aims to assist developing countries to promote environmental-friendly investments

One of the considerations of the Kyoto Protocol is the high costs for Annex I countries to reach the level of GHG reduction that is required of them. As a solution, the Protocol provided three cooperative mechanisms to help Annex I countries achieve this at lower costs in other countries than they could do domestically. These are: International Emission Trading where countries are allowed to transfer parts of their “allowed emissions”, Joint Implementation (JI) where countries are allowed to claim credit for emissions reductions based on investments in industrialized countries and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) where emission-reduction projects that assist in creating sustainable development in developing countries to generate “certified emission reductions” (CERs) for use by the investor.

The Clean Development Mechanism aims to assist developing countries to promote environmental-friendly investments from industrialized country governments and businesses. CDM projects can be implemented by non-profit, public and private partnerships. It is a market-based mechanism that targets the private sector primarily as these may be the recipient of increasing investment flows that they may get through the CDM projects. Primary considerations for a CDM project include long-term benefits in terms of climate change mitigation, sustainable development factors with approval from all parties involved.

For a country to participate in CDM, there are three basic requirements they have to comply with: voluntary participation in the CDM, the designation and establishment of the National CDM Authority, and the country’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Industrialized countries are further required to establish the assigned amount of GHG emission to be reduced, a national system for the estimation of GHGs and an accounting system for the sale and purchase of emission reductions.

The CDM cycle starts with the submission of a Project Design and Document (PDD) for national approval through the National Authority. An independent operational entity reviews it until its validation and registration. At this point, the project financing comes in and the project starts. Monitoring is done and is followed through monitoring reports. On the verification and certification stage, an independent operational entity reviews the project’s performance and writes the verification report, certification report and finally, the request for CERs. This is submitted to the international CDM Executive Board who will issue the CER.

On the national level, every country is allowed to make its own rules and regulations on CDM and develop its own sustainable development criteria. The National Authority is the focal point of all CDM activities as it serves as the CDM monitoring agency of a country. It is also the agency that endorses a proposed CDM project to the international CDM Executive Board for approval and for certification. Having a National Authority is one of the primary considerations of investor countries in choosing which countries to work with.

The CDM Information and Guidebook published by the UNEP last December 2003 enlisted the pertinent characters in the CDM picture and parallel to these, the benefits they will get from it namely: for developing countries to “promote sustainable development through investment”; developed countries will “meet their Kyoto Protocol commitments at low costs”; NGOs to “promote the environment and development”; for development banks to “promote sustainable development and create new markets” and so on.

The CDM is viewed by many as an opportunity to further national sustainable development but in the long run, the environmental benefits that will be reaped are far greater than the financial rewards a participant country may get. It is one of the many ways that countries may work together. One by one, countries are forming partnerships to start on CDM projects. Step by step, countries are making themselves CDM-worthy, designating their national authorities and complying with the requirements. And little by little, the environmental benefits will hand in hand allow a global economy that considers the sustainability of life, irregardless of what role it had to play in protecting our global climate. The CDM coffee is starting to brew.

Sources:

• CDM Information and Guidebook, UNEP, 2003

• Clean Development Mechanism, Manila Observatory