Transport projects (CDM) get UN boost

Transport projects moved a step closer to earning CO2 credits after a UN panel gave them the nod
UN experts recommended two ideas to be approved by the board which oversees the clean development mechanism (CDM), it emerged today.
These so-called methodologies are linked to projects which expect to generate 87,000 certified emission reduction credits (CERs) a year.
But the UN’s methodologies panel, which made the recommendations at its meeting last week, also advised the executive board to turn down eight different ideas for projects expecting to earn around 4.1 million credits a year. In addition, the panel deferred decisions on a further 13 methodologies, which will be examined further when it sits again next month (Source: Pointcarbon)

Transport travails
The two methodologies, designed to credit emission reductions from projects to install bus lanes and underground railways, could pave the way for what has been an under-represented CDM sector to date.
If the executive board gives them the green light, developers will be able to use the methodologies to design CDM projects in the developing world and eventually apply for CERs.
Of the 67 large-scale methodologies approved by the UN executive board, just one is from the transport sector.
The UN has historically been wary of endorsing the sector and the panel demanded several changes be made before finally recommending the two ideas at last week’s meeting.

Complexity costs
Transport, which accounts for around 13 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, has been a notoriously complex area for developers to try to prove emissions reductions would not otherwise have been made.
Such carbon-cutting projects tend to be more complex than many CDM schemes because they often depend on surveying large numbers of people to prove the local population has shifted from using more carbon-intensive vehicles.
These approval hurdles have added to the cost of developing the projects, but Grutter Consulting, the developer behind both the methodologies, still reckons the sector could eventually yield a greater proportion of CDM credits.
“There will be five or six projects that can be quickly presented to the board for validation if they approve the methodologies,” said Jurg Grutter, the firm’s founder.
This includes one project for an underground railway in Delhi, India, which is expected to generate around 600,000 CERs a year, he added.
The methodologies will be considered at the next meeting of the UN executive board, which will be held from 13-16 October.