11 March 2016: At its 88th meeting, the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) elected Eduardo Calvo, Peru, as Chair and Frank Wolke, Germany, as Vice-Chair, for 2016. In addition, the Board set in motion the CDM’s “evolving role” in international climate action, taking up a request from the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 11) in December 2015 to analyze options to use the CDM for other uses.

As Chair Calvo described it, “countries want to use this powerful tool [the CDM] to fulfill their ambitions coming out of the Paris Agreement, and we’re going to help them do that.” He explained that the CDM “has attracted billions of dollars’ worth of investment in climate action.”

Having discussed the concept note on this agenda item, the Board requested the Secretariat to elaborate on the note, revising it to include recommendations for areas of work and possible actions using the CDM infrastructure in other areas, including the use of certified emission reductions (CERs).

In addition, the Board agreed it would monitor the development of provisions under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, requesting the Secretariat to “prepare an analysis, including legal and technical aspects, on the use of the CDM beyond the end of the true-up period of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.”

On other strategic planning items, the Board considered financing the CDM through international climate finance institutions, such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and agreed to host a workshop on the topic during the 44th sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies to the UNFCCC in May 2016. It reviewed updated proposals for simplification and streamlining of the CDM, providing guidance that the Secretariat should prepare draft revised regulatory documents related to reducing sample size (for verification) for geographically scattered projects and provided guidance on revising several other proposals under this agenda item.

On performance management, the Board approved its workplan for 2016 and adopted the 2016 workplans of the CDM Accreditation Panel (CDM-AP), the Methodologies Panel (Meth Panel), the Small-Scale Working Group (SSC WG), the Afforestation and Reforestation Working Panel (A/R WG) and the Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Working Group (CCS WG).

On regulatory matters, the Board adopted the ‘Cape Verde standardized baseline for the power sector’ and the standard ‘Applicability of sectoral scopes.’ It agreed not to approve the small-scale methodology ‘AMS – I.X: Solar power for aircraft at-gate operations,’ requesting further revisions, and not to pursue further work in relation to the ‘Guidelines for establishment of sector specific standardized baseline.’

The 88th meeting of the CDM Executive Board took place from 7-11 March 2016, in Bonn, Germany. The CDM Executive Board supervises the Kyoto Protocol’s CDM under the authority and guidance of the CMP, and is fully accountable to the CMP. It is also the point of contact for CDM project participants for the registration of projects and the issuance of CERs. [CDM Website] [CDM Press Release, 11 March 2016] [CDM Press Release, 7 March 2016] [CDM Executive Board 88th Meeting Webpage] [CDM Executive Board 88th Meeting Report] [CDM Executive Board Webpage]