Some United Nations-overseen regulators of the world’s second-biggest carbon market need to resolve conflicts of interest as they debate on the supply of emission credits from industrial-gas projects next week.

The Clean Development Mechanism executive board, which oversees the market, is deciding how to regulate projects that destroy hydrofluorocarbon-23, the potent greenhouse gas that is a byproduct of chemical-refrigerant making. Greenhouse gas credits from HFC-23 projects make up about half the supply of offsets in the UN program, which can be used for compliance in the European Union market, the world’s biggest.

Three of the 10-member board and three of the 10 alternates who stand in for them when absent should abstain from votes on HFC-23 because of the conflicts, CDM Watch, the Bonn-based environmental lobby group, said July 16. They include representatives of China, India, Netherlands, U.K., Japan and Norway, the lobby group said in an e-mailed statement. That’s because some of those nations buy the credits and some sell.

Lex de Jonge, chairman of the UN panel that approves methodologies to cut greenhouse gases and an alternate member, said he won’t defend projects that apply for credits by destroying the HFC-23 gases. “I’m very much aware of the conflict of interest,” de Jonge said July 16 by phone, referring to the fact that his country, the Netherlands, buys the credits to help comply with its targets under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

“I will not in any way enter into discussions defending these projects,” he said. De Jonge said he and other regulators have abstained from past decisions when conflicted. “That’s the only way to survive in this system.” The executive board is meeting July 26 through 30 in Bonn, Germany.

‘Can Speak’

Conflicted board members that won’t defend credits may still participate in discussions, de Jonge said. “It doesn’t mean they can’t speak.”

Last year, the board adopted a code of conduct that addressed conflict of interest, David Abbass, a spokesman for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said July 16. “Each board member, when they join, signs an oath that addresses conflict of interest,” he said by e-mail.

China has 11 HFC-23 CDM projects producing about 65 million metric tons of Certified Emission Reduction credits a year, CDM Watch said. That’s the most of any nation and adds up to about 650 million euros ($842 million) annually, it said. (By Mathew Carr)

Source: Bloomberg

Some rights for the image is reserved under Creative Commons license

Comments (0)

Write comment

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment