Ambientalistas elogiaram a decisão do Comitê Executivo (CE) do Mecanismo de Desenvolvimento Limpo (MDL) de suspender temporariamente a metodologia para creditação de projetos que envolvam a destruição do gás HFC-23, porém enfatizaram a incoerência do painel de ter aprovado na sexta-feira 20 milhões destes créditos.
Após várias investigações, tanto a Comissão Européia quanto o CE do MDL concluíram que há dúvidas sobre a integridade ambiental dos créditos HFC-23.
O CE decidiu colocar a metodologia do HFC-23 em stand by com efeito imediato e pediu que o seu Painel de Metodologias revise as regras para lidar com as falhas até junho de 2011.
Porém, segundo o CDM Watch, organização que originalmente levantou as preocupações sobre os projetos HFC-23, a nova metodologia se aplicaria apenas após o término do atual período de creditação dos projetos. Para que as mudanças sejam imediatas, o CE precisaria esclarecer a interpretação das regras existentes.
A Comissão Européia tomou uma decisão similar na semana passada, banindo o uso dos créditos HFC-23 e N2O a partir de 2013. Os planos europeus para a terceira fase do seu esquema de comércio de emissões foi muito elogiado por ONGs que acompanham o mercado de carbono.
Controvérsia
Entretanto, durante a mesma reunião que conclui sobre a irregularidade na metodologia, o CE emitiu quase 20 milhões de créditos de carbono para 12 projetos de HFC-23, que estavam suspensos durante a investigação.
“Isto é totalmente incoerente”, comentou a conselheira de políticas do CDM Watch Natasha Hurley. “Não faz sentido o Comitê suspender a emissão de créditos enquanto a investigação está acontecendo e então acabar com a suspensão no exato momento que conclui que existe um problema”.
Esta emissão elevará o total de Reduções Certificadas de Emissão (RCEs) em 4,4% para 477 milhões de unidades, aumentando também o número de RCEs expedidas este ano em cerca de 20% para 110 milhões, segundo informações da Point Carbon.
Além disso, a reunião do CE também aprovou uma usina a carvão de 1.320 MW na Índia, que a ONG CDM Watch criticou dizendo ser uma marca preta na credibilidade do mercado de carbono.
“Há evidências claras que o projeto não dependia do financiamento do MDL para ser construído. Como resultado, 12 milhões de créditos de carbono até 2020 substituirão reduções de emissão que são necessárias para evitar o aquecimento global. Decisões como esta devem incitar os compradores de créditos de carbono, como a União Européia, a aplicar regras mais rígidas para o teste de adicionalidade”, enfatizou Natasha.
O CE também decidiu rever as metodologias para o cálculo de reduções de emissão para o setor de resíduos, incluindo as tecnologias que geram energia a partir de resíduos.
(*)Por Fernanda B. Müller, - (Envolverde/Carbono Brasil)
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HOPE SO!! CDM board can 'speed up' registrations next year /// Point Carbon
: 27 May 2010 14:15 CET Last updated: 27 May 2010 19:25 CET
The pace of CDM project registration can be doubled by 2011, according to EB member Hugh Sealy.
Measures taken by the executive board (EB) to speed up the registration process for clean development mechanism (CDM) projects are taking effect, Sealy told delegates at the Carbon Expo event in Cologne, Germany.
“We can get to 1,000-1,200 projects next year. Give us some time, we can reform and scale up the CDM from a rate of 400-500 projects a year,” said Sealy of Barbados, who sits on the executive board that administers the CDM.
But market participants said that without drastic reform, an increase of this magnitude might not be enough to convince policymakers that the mechanism should play a big role after 2012.
As possibilities for larger CDM projects dwindle, developers are turning to smaller and smaller projects, said Marc Stuart, the former chief executive of developer Ecosecurities.
Even if the EB could increase the rate of registration for new projects, the amount of certified emission reductions (CERs) that could be generated would not rise by the same extent.
According to UN data, 2,213 CDM projects have been registered, giving a potential yield of some 1.79 billion CERs by the end of the Kyoto protocol compliance period in 2012 if these projects deliver all the emissions reductions outlined in design documents.
Recent EB efforts have resulted in an uptick in registrations, with 686 projects gaining UN approval last year, compared to 431 in 2008 and 426 in 2007, according to Point Carbon data.
But in reality many projects generate much fewer credits promised in these blueprints, and longer delays in getting projects registered and issued with CERs has prompted some analysts to downgrade their forecasts for issuances of CERs by the end of 2012.
Writedowns
Both Barclays Capital and UN research unit Unep Risoe estimate that fewer than 1 billion credits will be issued by the end of 2012.
Developers are calling for changes that would enable clusters of projects to get registered and issued with credits rather than project-by-project approach currently used by the EB.
“We need to be allowed to produce projects with multiple technologies on multiple sites,” said Gareth Philips, chief climate change officer at Sindicatum, a carbon project developer.
However, the EB’s Hugh Sealy said he believes the project-by-project approach is capable of achieving a scaled-up CDM without having to design a new mechanism from scratch.
“We are working our butts off tackling the reform of the system. I find it strange that we are being seen as yesterday’s news,” he added.
Alternatives
Fellow EB member Pedro Martins Barata was more doubtful that a project-based CDM could be expanded on the scale required to meet demand for offsets.
“We are probably going to issue around 1 billion CERs by the end of 2012, but we face a possible demand of around five times that,” said Portugal’s Barata.
“I’m not going to write off the CDM, I think it can be scaled up. But to soak up all that demand we will need to work on all sorts of mechanisms at the same time,” he said.
This includes a scheme to generate carbon credits from reduced deforestation and degradation (Redd) as well as a sectoral initiative to credit other emission cuts in the developing world, Barata told delegates.
By Ben Garside – bg@pointcarbon.com
Cologne
The pace of CDM project registration can be doubled by 2011, according to EB member Hugh Sealy.
Measures taken by the executive board (EB) to speed up the registration process for clean development mechanism (CDM) projects are taking effect, Sealy told delegates at the Carbon Expo event in Cologne, Germany.
“We can get to 1,000-1,200 projects next year. Give us some time, we can reform and scale up the CDM from a rate of 400-500 projects a year,” said Sealy of Barbados, who sits on the executive board that administers the CDM.
But market participants said that without drastic reform, an increase of this magnitude might not be enough to convince policymakers that the mechanism should play a big role after 2012.
As possibilities for larger CDM projects dwindle, developers are turning to smaller and smaller projects, said Marc Stuart, the former chief executive of developer Ecosecurities.
Even if the EB could increase the rate of registration for new projects, the amount of certified emission reductions (CERs) that could be generated would not rise by the same extent.
According to UN data, 2,213 CDM projects have been registered, giving a potential yield of some 1.79 billion CERs by the end of the Kyoto protocol compliance period in 2012 if these projects deliver all the emissions reductions outlined in design documents.
Recent EB efforts have resulted in an uptick in registrations, with 686 projects gaining UN approval last year, compared to 431 in 2008 and 426 in 2007, according to Point Carbon data.
But in reality many projects generate much fewer credits promised in these blueprints, and longer delays in getting projects registered and issued with CERs has prompted some analysts to downgrade their forecasts for issuances of CERs by the end of 2012.
Writedowns
Both Barclays Capital and UN research unit Unep Risoe estimate that fewer than 1 billion credits will be issued by the end of 2012.
Developers are calling for changes that would enable clusters of projects to get registered and issued with credits rather than project-by-project approach currently used by the EB.
“We need to be allowed to produce projects with multiple technologies on multiple sites,” said Gareth Philips, chief climate change officer at Sindicatum, a carbon project developer.
However, the EB’s Hugh Sealy said he believes the project-by-project approach is capable of achieving a scaled-up CDM without having to design a new mechanism from scratch.
“We are working our butts off tackling the reform of the system. I find it strange that we are being seen as yesterday’s news,” he added.
Alternatives
Fellow EB member Pedro Martins Barata was more doubtful that a project-based CDM could be expanded on the scale required to meet demand for offsets.
“We are probably going to issue around 1 billion CERs by the end of 2012, but we face a possible demand of around five times that,” said Portugal’s Barata.
“I’m not going to write off the CDM, I think it can be scaled up. But to soak up all that demand we will need to work on all sorts of mechanisms at the same time,” he said.
This includes a scheme to generate carbon credits from reduced deforestation and degradation (Redd) as well as a sectoral initiative to credit other emission cuts in the developing world, Barata told delegates.
By Ben Garside – bg@pointcarbon.com
Cologne
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