The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) provides a means for those who reduce their carbon emissions to earn revenue from the sale of carbon credits. It therefore provides an incentive to the reduction of the green house gasses that cause global warming.
CDM was put in place as one of the mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol to allow a means of financing emissions reduction projects in the developing countries. When a party in a non-Annex 1 country develops a project that reduces emissions it can earn Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs)
issued by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The project developer can then sell these CERs to buyers in the developed countries who are obligated under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their emissions.
CDM therefore provides an opportunity for those in the developing world earn revenue, reduce their emissions, and improve the technologies available to them.
ERCC provides an integrated set of services aimed at helping clients earn CERs and sell them on the international markets. Services ERCC provides:
- Developing of all required material and permissions and registration of the project with the UNFCCC Executive Board
- Sale of credits
- Advice on management of carbon assets
- Engineering of projects, or providing turn-key operation (depending on the project)
- Followup monitoring of project to ensure timely verification and issuance of credits
ERCC also develops projects for Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs) under voluntary standards other than CDM. Some projects are not well suited to the CDM markets. For these project, we help clients gain VERs. VERs are similar to CERs in that they can be sold internationally. However, usually the process to obtain VERs is shorter than that for obtaining CERs. Depending on the type of project, we will advise our clients on the appropriate standard to apply for credits under.
Examples of CDM projects:
Fuel Switching (heavy fuel oil or mazut to natural gas)
Use of biomass as fuel in place of a fossil fuel
Avoidance of methane emissions
Abatement of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions
Use of a renewable energy resource for on site electricity generation
Waste to power projects – using an industrial waste to generate local power
Flare gas reduction and utilization
Increased Energy Efficiency