Saying that there is a question mark over the future of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), minister of state for environment & forests Jairam Ramesh has called upon Saarc countries to ensure that it survives beyond post-Kyoto Protocol. The first phase of Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.
He was speaking at the Saarc Clean Development Mechanism Conference organised by environment & forests ministry and external affairs ministry, supported by Ficci, in the Capital on Tuesday. CDM is one of the three mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol, which enables industrialised countries to buy credits in developing countries to achieve their carbon emission reduction targets. Companies in developing countries accumulate credits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their projects.
Ramesh emphasised that CDM is not only an instrument for ensuring sustainable development in industrialised countries, but also for reducing emissions in developing countries. For example, India has approved 1,425 projects under CDM. If registered and implemented by 2012, these projects would help the country abate 10% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually. At a conservative price of $10 per tonne, it would add up to an inflow of $610 million in the country by 2012.
Ramesh further said that industrialised countries don?t have great appetite for CDM because they resist the fact that China and India are the biggest beneficiaries under the mechanism.