Grenada office will help Carribbean countries identify projects for the Clean Development Mechanism
Grenada in the Caribbean is the setting for the UN’s third collaboration centre. (Source: rappensuncle)
The UN has taken steps to accelerate the development of carbon markets in the Caribbean with the opening of a regional collaboration centre in Grenada.
The office will help local governments, NGOs and businesses interested in accessing the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) identify projects and opportunities.
The CDM is the only truly global carbon market, and is designed to develop low carbon projects in the developing world with financing from richer nations.
“The regional collaboration centres aim to increase participation in the CDM, but their work differs substantially from region to region and from project to project,” said the chair of the CDM executive board, Peer Stiansen.
“The centre in Grenada will focus on the needs of the Caribbean Region in an effort to make it an increasingly attractive destination for CDM projects.”
This is the third regional collaboration centre established by the UNFCCC, with the first in Lomé, Togo and the second in Kampala, Uganda.
Analysts say it urgently needs to boost interest in its carbon trading system in order that it remains relevant.
Yesterday Bloomberg reported an “unprecedented freeze” in UN carbon trading. According to data from ICE Futures Europe, no UN Certified Emission Reduction, or CER, changed hands on July 22 and July 23.
Supply of CERs currently outstrips demand, and prices have dropped by 80% since the start of the year, raising concerns that the mechanism is losing its ability to operate.
Earlier this month, the CDM passed the 7000 project mark with 1,000 new projects having been accepted since February.