Linking Directive

To: Minister Jürgen TrittenFederal Minister for Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety Dear Minister Tritten, Many thanks for your letter of 13 December explaining the position of the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) on the application of WCD recommendations within the CDM, and in particular with regards to the La Esperanza hydropower project in Honduras. First we would like to note our strong appreciation for your statements on the importance of the WCD and the implementation of its recommendations. We especially appreciate your support for the requirement within the EU Linking

European Bank for Reconstruction and DevelopmentPeter ReinigerBusiness Group DirectorEnergy and Telecommunication Ann Kathrin SchneiderInternational RiversBerlin OfficeReichenbergerstr.8110999 BerlinGermany Dear Mrs. Schneider, Thank you for your letter of 5 August 2005 in which you express an interest in the Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund ("MCCF") envisaged to be established and its relation to large hydropower projects. I have been asked to respond on Mr. Lemierre’s behalf. The Founders of the MCCF will consider mandating the Fund to source carbon credits for the account of its participan

Dear Ms. Schneider, Thank you for your note of July 28 and the attached letter concerning the WB EIB Carbon Fund for Europe and hydro power projects. I refer you to the frequently asked questions on our website: www.carbonfinance.org, and the World Bank’s position on the report of the WCD at: www.worldbank.org, which should provide the information you are seeking. Sincerely, Odin KnudsenSenior ManagerCarbon Finance Businessoknudsen@worldbank.org Dear Ms. Schneider, I am responding to your email of 09/05/05 on behalf of Odin Knudsen. Here is the specific link to the Q&A on the website tha

Berkeley, California – The two biggest public banks in Europe, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), have announced that they will take into account the international standards for dam-building set by the World Commission on Dams (WCD). "We welcome the decision of the two biggest public banks in Europe to join the growing number of institutions worldwide that take seriously the World Commission on Dams‚ recommendations," says Ann Kathrin Schneider, Policy Analyst for International Rivers. The EIB has told International Rivers th

Mr. Odin KnudsenSenior Manager, World Bank Carbon FinanceThe World BankWashington, DC Dear Mr. Knudsen We note with interest your decision to develop a World Bank–European Investment Bank Carbon Fund for Europe. We are certain that you are aware of the adoption of the Linking Directive by the European Union in 2004, regulating the admission of CDM credits into the EU’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS). The directive stipulates that credits from hydropower projects exceeding 20 MW can only enter the EU ETS if the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams final report are respected du

European Parliament Urged to Safeguard Climate PolicyGreenpeace and International Rivers held a briefing today at the European Parliament on the proposed directive1 linking EU emissions trading with credits from the Kyoto Protocol project mechanisms" Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). They warned that if rules are not set, the EU greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme will be flooded with credits from destructive hydroelectric projects, compromising the effectiveness of the scheme2 and undermining previous EU positions on sustainable development. Greenpeace a

From: Jürgen TrittenFederal MinisterMember of the Bundestag Dear Mr. Maier, dear Jürgen, Thank you very much for your letter dated 26 November regarding the CDM project "La Esperanza" in Honduras. On behalf of the non–governmental organisations working in the German NGO Forum on Environment and Development you strongly lobby for compliance with the rules of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). In my view, the WCD rules are a major improvement in shaping environmental standards for hydropower projects, reasonably including sustainability into the evaluation. In the future it will be importan

To: Minister Jürgen TrittenFederal Minister for Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety Ms. Heidemarie Wieczorek–ZeulFederal Minister for Development Cooperation Dear Minister Tritten,Dear Minister Wieczorek–Zeul, We are writing to express our concern at an apparent breach of German CDM policy that requires hydro projects from which Germany sources Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) to be compliant with the standards outlined in the 2000 Final Report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). In February 2003 the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) published standards for CDM and

Briefing for the European Parliament.Prepared by International Rivers, Greenpeace and CDMWatchThe proposed directive1 linking the EU emissions trading scheme with the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol is contrary to the fundamental principle that climate change mitigation policy must be founded on domestic action.The details of the directive create many additional risks. In particular, the following problems are created by the absence of any restrictions for hydroelectric projects developed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI):• Investment in pote