Climate Action Network Submission on Developed Country Emission Reductions

Date: 
Friday, February 15, 2008

A series of discussions are under way among the governments that ratified the Kyoto Protocol on what commitments developed countries (Annex I Parties, in the Protocol's jargon) should take on after the first phase of the Protocol expires in 2012. They are also discussing means to meet these commitments, including potentially redesigning the Clean Development Mechanism.

The 5th session of this "Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol" will take place in Bangkok, 31 March to 4 April 2008.

Climate Action Network International's submission to the Ad Hoc Working Group's Bangkok meeting can be downloaded below.

The submission states that "CAN has serious concerns about the current structure and functioning of the CDM. In terms of emission reductions, the CDM at its best only off-sets Annex I emissions, and without effective additionality testing and rigorous baselines, allows global emissions to increase in absolute terms . . . If the environmental integrity of uncapped trading cannot be assured, it should be abandoned and other means of financing and technology transfer be explored."

The submission also notes CAN's "strong concerns regarding the environmental and social sustainability of many CDM projects," and calls for the CDM to apply the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams. CAN calls for all CDM projects to meet the CDM Gold Standard, which would make hydro projects larger than 15 MW ineligible for CDM credits.

International Rivers is a member of CAN, a coalition of more than 400 environmental and development NGOs in 85 countries, committed to limiting human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels.

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