UK Government Checklist on WCD Compliance

The UK's Department of Environment (DEFRA) has prepared a checklist which can be used to assess whether a large hydro project complies with the World Commission on Dams criteria. The checklist is Annex C in DEFRA's "guidance on approval and authorisation to participate in Clean Development Mechanism project activities" which can be downloaded below.

The checklist was prepared in response to the requirement in the EU's Linking Directive that CDM credits from large hydros (>20MW) can only be used in the European Trading System if the projects comply with the WCD.

DEFRA states in its "guidance" document that to fulfill the Linking Directive obligation on large hydros, the UK "requires a declaration from project participants in these projects, indicating that the development of the proposed project activity will respect the criteria and guidelines identified in the Report produced by the World Commission on Dams. We are currently considering how this might then be independently verified"