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India is currently number one in terms of the number of projects accorded the host country approval and under consideration by the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) Executive Board, as per the provisions of Kyoto Protocol. This was stated here today by the Minister of Environment and Forests, Thiru A. Raja, while delivering the inaugural address at “Clear Skies”, an event organized by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Indian Carbon Market Group (ICMG) on the first day of the Kyoto Protocol to facilitate interaction with CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) developers.
“The vigorous project development activity in our country, and the proactive stands adopted by the Government, has propelled India to become the most favorable destination for CDM investments” Thiru Raja said, adding that “at the national level, we have created an efficient National CDM authority for according host country approvals. We had also identified a number of state level institutions for helping developers in project preparation”.
The Minister further stated that the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, and especially its Clean Development Mechanism will help to create a global constituency of investors, financial institutions and industries, who would have a significant stake in the continued expansion of the clean energy sector. “According to the European Union (EU), an estimated annual 430 million tons of CO2 must be reduced worldwide in order to meet the Kyoto Protocol’s emission reduction targets”, he said. Observing that the CDM is a new concept, and the various formalities at the international level to take advantage of it still seem complex and time consuming, the Minister called for a faster, more efficient, and more user-friendly international CDM project registration process in order to attract more financial resources and institutions. “Despite the development of Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) and the CDM market looking more dynamic than ever, there are still some risks and barriers to be considered by the project developers and financial institutions before engaging in a CDM project”, he added and pointed out that “associated CDM process risks, which are new and somewhat complex to project developers and financial institutions, need to be appropriately addressed”.
Thiru Raja further stated that Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) obtained during the period from year 2000 up to the beginning of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period (2008-2012) can be used to achieve compliance of the Kyoto Protocol provisions as of now.
“According to the World Bank almost 61 million tons of project-based carbon certificates for compliance purposes changed hands in the first half of 2004. For the whole 2003, the figure was 78 million tons meaning that the traded volumes have almost doubled in 2004 for the second successive year” he said, adding that “as the carbon market volume has been doubling every year, the additional good news is that the carbon prices have also been inching up”.
“Adoption of the Kyoto Protocol with its legally binding targets is a clear indication that most of the developed countries are now determined to take the lead in modifying longer-term trends in anthropogenic emissions” he added.
Pointing out that some of the countries with the highest Green House Gas (GHG) emissions have not joined the Kyoto Protocol, the Minister hoped that “the opportunities presented by the rapidly expanding clean energy markets would induce them to come on board sooner, in some manner, rather than later”.
In his address, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Dr Prodipto Ghosh observed the potential adverse impacts of climate change could provide major setbacks to our development because of changes in rainfall patterns, agricultural yields, intensity and frequency of extreme weather events and sea level rise etc. He stressed that early and large decreases in emissions of greenhouse gases from the industrialized countries are necessary to reduce the urgency and scale of adaptation efforts.
AKS/rs
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