The last meeting of the CDM Executive Board was an important one for co2balance; despite monitoring our PoA within the strict requirements of the methodology, we found we would be unable to claim carbon credits because we had followed updated (and improved) guidance related to choosing sample sizes. Nearly 1 year ago, we began challenging this technical obscurity in which best practice in project development was effectively outlawed and, as a result, the CDM Secretariat eventually raised this issue to the Executive Board (EB) for consideration at this, their 80th meeting.
The EB meet around 10 times per year to discuss issues relating to the governance of the world’s only legally binding market-based mechanism to mitigate climate change. Owing to its basis in international law, the CDM is famed for its bureaucracy, pedantry and resistance to change and as I recently found out, you can actually watch the deliberation of the EB live via a webcast – would this be wise, these things considered?
I have 2 confessions 1) I did indeed watch the meeting and 2) I kind of enjoyed it. This was almost entirely due to the meeting being chaired in admirable fashion by Hugh Sealy of Barbados/Canada, whose mellifluous accent and jargon-busting, no-nonsense approach kept me glued to my headset. Im happy to say that common sense prevailed, our challenge was noted and accepted by the EB and we, in some small way, have changed a global framework for the better.