Kyoto Protocol: Clean Development Mechanism

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is presented as Article 12 in the Kyoto Protocol. To put it simply..
'The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the two project-based flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. These mechanisms are designed to make it easier and cheaper for industrialised countries to meet the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets that they agreed to under the Protocol. The CDM is also mandated to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development.'

India Slant:
Chapter IV of the white paper 'Financing Sustainable Development with the Clean Development Mechanism' (edited by Duncan Austin and Paul Faeth of the WRI) is titled 'India: CDM Oppurtunities and Benefits'. This part (dated March 2000) was written by Milind Pathak, Leena Srivastava and Sudhir Sharma of TERI. The study presents a preliminary prioritization of CDM projects in India based on a ranking scheme called the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP).

An interesting e-book titled 'Sustainability Check-Up for CDM Projects' (2003) by Christoph Sutter provides a systematic overview of various approaches to assess the sustainability of CDM projects. The methodology - Multi-Attributive Assessment of CDM (MATA-CDM) - evaluates CDM projects by means of 12 clearly defined criteria. The methodology has been tested in case studies in India and South Africa and Uruguay. Pages (121-166) in the above mentioned e-book analyses a particular type of CDM project in India - the biomass power generation in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

In an article early this year in The Financial Express, Dr. P. C. Maithani, Director - MNES, Govt. of India, discusses the impact of CDM on the Indian industry (eight years after the Kyoto Protocol). The author concludes..
'In a nutshell, CDM fails on all the promised fronts of technology transfer, FDI flows and carbon money.'

Relevant Sites:
CDM Home
CDM Watch
CDM Capacity
Prototype Carbon Fund
National CDM Authority
CDM India
CDM - TERI India
CDM - Winrock India

Update: 'Why Kyoto Protocol was dead in the Water?'