October 2009: The report of the 50th meeting of the Executive Board (EB) of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is now available on the CDM website. The EB held its 50th meeting from 13-16 October 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand, and considered matters relating to CDM afforestation and reforestation projects, small-scale CDM projects, and the registration of CDM projects, among others.

On the accreditation of operational entities, the Board agreed to withdraw the applications for accreditation for PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata Sustainability Certification Co., Ltd., Technology Institute of Parana (TECPAR), and ECA CERT, Certificacion, S.A. (ECA CERT). The Board also considered the recommendations of the CDM Accreditation Panel (CDM-AP) about measures to facilitate the accreditation of more applicant entities (AEs) from developing countries, and agreed on seven recommendations for the consideration of the COP/MOP, including: to consider reducing, and even totally subsidizing, the costs associated with the travel of accreditation team members; to promote broader understanding of CDM requirements through the publication of simple, informal guides and materials on compliance with the CDM requirements; and to invite representatives of developing country organizations interested in applying for accreditation to attend workshops organized for AEs/designated operational entities (DOEs). Also in this regard, the Board agreed to request the CDM-AP to conduct a comprehensive review of the regional availability, costs and timeliness of the validation and verification services in developing countries through a survey open to DOEs and other stakeholders.
On methodologies for baselines and monitoring plans, the Board agreed to approve two new methodologies, and not to approve eight, stating that if the eight cases not approved are revised taking account comments, they can be resubmitted, but would require new expert and public input. The Board also revised eight approved methodologies. On the issuance of certified emission reductions (CERs) and the CDM registry, the Board considered a request for review of ten requests for issuance, and agreed, subject to a check by the Secretariat of the revised documentation and in consultation with the Chair of the Board, to instruct the CDM registry administrator to issue CERs for seven of the requests. It agreed to undertake a review of the other three requests for issuance. The Board also considered the recommendation of the review teams for two requests for issuance that were placed under review at EB 49, and agreed to instruct CERs to be issued, subject to satisfactory corrections, for the “El Molle – Landfill gas (LFG) capture project,” but could not approve the request for issuance of CERs for the “Mondi Richards Bay Biomass Project.”
In addition, the Board discussed the CDM management plan and resources for the work on the CDM, regional distribution of CDM projects, relations with designated national authorities, DOEs and AEs, as well as relationship with stakeholders, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. [EB50 report]