Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

Comments on the Jirau Hydropower Project: Transboundary Impacts Submitted to Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Ltd.I am writing to express my concerns over the application for validation of the Jirau Hydropower Project in Brazil. The Project Design Document (PDD) for this project is deeply flawed and inaccurate. This is particularly true in relation with transboundary environmental impacts, as is described below. Summary of Key Concerns The project will have serious transboundary environmental and social impacts in Bolivia and Peru. Both independent technical studies and IBAMA (Instituto B

THE JIRAU DAM'S CDM PROPOSAL: COMMENTS ON THE PROJECT DESIGN DOCUMENTUpdated version: June 1, 2012 Philip M. Fearnside National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA) Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil pmfearn@inpa.gov.br THE JIRAU DAM Two dams, Santo Antônio and Jirau, are nearing completion on the Madeira River, a major Amazon tributary that drains parts of Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. Both dams have applications pending for carbon credit under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The Jirau Dam, located in Brazil’s state of Rondônia near the border with Bolivia, is being built

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is meant to catalyze climate-friendly and sustainable projects in low-income countries. Instead, it's provided massive subsidies to hydropower developers while increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Through deception and abuse of the system, at least two-thirds of all CDM projects are likely not additional, and more are slipping in each year. Despite attempts at reform, the CDM continues to approve egregious hydropower projects while delaying any improvements. In December 2011, an EU-commissioned report recommended the European Union consider banning credit

Feburary 2012 An Assessment of Dams in India's North East seeking Carbon Credits from Clean Development Mechanism of the UN Framework Convention on Climate ChangeThe following report, prepared by the Citizens Concern for Dams and Development with support and coordination from International Rivers, critiques the social and environmental impacts of mega dams in India's North East region, which are promoted as environmentally and socially friendly. Additionally the report explores the false claims of dam building companies that dams can contribute to the mitigation of climate change, particularly

Saves Falls Sacred to Indigenous PeoplesTeles Pires construction site A federal judge in Brazil has suspended the construction license of the Teles Pires hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon, citing violations of the rights of the Kayabi, Apiaká and Mundurucu indigenous peoples whose livelihoods are seriously threatened by the project. Read the full Press Release Read a blog about the campaign to protect the Tapajós Basin from destructive dams The dam with an estimated installed capacity of 1,820 MW has been under construction since August 2011 on the Teles Pires River, a major tribu

Comments on the Santo Antônio Hydropower Project Submitted to the Perry Johnson Registrars Carbon Emissions ServicesWe are writing to express our concerns over the application for validation of the Santo Antônio Hydropower Project in Brazil. The Project Design Document (PDD) for this project is deeply flawed and inaccurate. In addition, CDM validation of this project would reward not only a clearly non-additional project, but also one of the most socially and environmentally destructive dams in the Amazon Basin. Summary of Key ConcernsThe project clearly does not meet criteria for addition

Comments on the Project Design Document for the Santo Antônio Dam's CDM Proposal Updated version: June 2, 2012 Philip M. Fearnside National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA) Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil pmfearn@inpa.gov.br THE SANTO ANTÔNIO DAM Granting the Santo Antônio Dam Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would allow purchasers of these certificates to release 51 million tons of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) into the atmosphere elsewhere in the world. As will be explained here, none of the supposed reduction in CO2e from the dam project is real,

THE TELES PIRES DAM'S CDM PROPOSAL: COMMENTS ON THE PROJECT DESIGN DOCUMENTPhilip M. Fearnside National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA) Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil pmfearn@inpa.gov.br The Project Design Document (PDD) for the Teles Pires Dam's proposal for carbon credit under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is indeed revealing, both of the flaws in the current CDM system and of the inconsistencies between Brazilian government's stated concern for climate change and its engaging in maximum exploitation of loopholes in CDM regulations. The docu

Submission by International Rivers to the Perry Johnson Registrars Carbon Emissions Services on the Teles Pires Hydropower ProjectThe Teles Pires Hydropower Plant should clearly not be eligible to receive financial incentives under the CDM. Despite growing scientific evidence attesting to the major significance of GHG emissions from hydroelectric dams in the tropics, the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) for the project simply sidestepped this fundamental question, including its cumulative impacts with four other large hydroprojects slated for construction along the Teles Pires river. The dam