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What is the Clean Development Mechanism?
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a climate protection instrument established in the Kyoto Protocol. Industrialized countries finance projects in developing countries and receive emissions credits in return.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental agreement, was passed in 1992 to counteract global warming. To implement this goal, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997, which contains concrete regulations for reducing greenhouse gases, which the participating countries have had to adhere to since then.
To make it easier for countries to achieve this goal, the Kyoto Protocol includes mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism. It gives countries the option of outsourcing the reduction obligations or – in the opposite case – taking them on from other countries. Typically, industrialized countries finance projects in developing countries to reduce emissions and receive emissions credits in return. You can have this credited to your emissions budget.
The developing countries, in turn, benefit from the fact that their infrastructure is improved through the implementation of these projects.
What's the goal of CDM?
CDM is intended to help achieve the goal of the Kyoto Protocol – a global reduction in CO2 emissions. It was included as an instrument in the treaties for two reasons. On the one hand, it should enable industrialized countries to implement the agreed CO2 reductions in an economically efficient way. At the same time, this approach is intended to help developing countries build a functioning economy and infrastructure.
