Kyoto Protocol Updates

Donald Goldberg
Center for International Environmental Law

The CDM Executive Board has held eight meetings to continue to develop rules for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Issues currently under discussions include accreditation of operational entities, methodologies for baselines and monitoring, and registration of projects. A particularly contentious issue has been the definition of additionality. Environmentalists claim that credited projects must be additional; that is, free-rider credits to projects that would have happened anyway should be avoided. Many businesses, however, and some countries have expressed an opposing view. They believe credit should be available as long as emissions with the project are lower than emissions would be without the project. The why of the project is irrelevant, they argue.

No new text has been developed on sinks since Marrakesh, though there have been workshops on technical issues. Some key issues will be taken up at the next subsidiary body meeting in June, however, and are expected to be resolved at COP9. To be decided are the rule for permanence and definitions of afforestation and reforestation in the CDM. Two competing approaches for resolving the permanence issue are ton year accounting, which would assign a certain amount of credit for each year that the sink remains standing, and “Temporary CERs (Certified Emissions Reductions),” which would create credits that expire after a given time and must be replaced either by a permanent or new temporary CER. Some Parties may seek sinks rules for baselines, additionality, leakage, and environmental and socio-economic criteria, but others likely will oppose any refinement of existing rules.

Entry into force still hinges on Russia. As of March, 106 states, representing 43.9 percent of Annex I emissions, had ratified or acceded to the Protocol. The Protocol has a dual threshold for entry into force. A minimum of 55 countries must ratify or accede to the Protocol, and ratifying and acceding Parties must represent at least 55 percent of Annex I emissions. At this point, ratification by the Russian Federation would meet all criteria for entry into force. Russia announced its intention to ratify at last year’s World Summit on Sustainable Development, but has not yet done so.