19 November 2010: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a working paper titled “Cities and Carbon Market Finance: Taking Stock of Cities’ Experience with Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI).”

Noting that, with over half the world’s population living in urban areas, cities are responsible for two-thirds of global energy consumption and 70% of energy emissions, the report explores the under-representation of urban low-carbon finance projects among CDM and JI projects, and what drives the success of the few that exist.

Highlighting ten case studies from across the globe, the paper concludes by recommending that national and regional governments should become more pro-active in facilitating access of urban authorities to carbon markets, especially by reforming finance mechanisms to include possible urban mitigation activities in, for example, transport, waste and built infrastructure. It also says that, for this to happen, GHG accounting must be standardized across scales. [The Paper on Cities and Carbon Market Finance]