UN environment scheme flawed: CSE

One of the items on the agenda of the Conference of Parties meet on climate change to be held in Montreal this month is the reform of the cu...

One of the items on the agenda of the Conference of Parties meet on climate change to be held in Montreal this month is the reform of the cumbersome mechanism by which Clean Development Mechanism Projects CDMs are approved. India might apprise the international community of what is wrong with the UN-approved scheme.

CDM is a process by which industrialised nations pay developing countries for adopting cleaner energy technologies and in turn earn what are called carbon credits. However, a study done by Delhi8217;s Centre for Science and Environment CSE has found that the UN-approved process for clearing CDMs are severely flawed.

They allege that developed countries buy cheap credits for reduction of carbon emission but like, many Indian companies, get huge financial benefits without fulfilling their part of the bargain, which is ensuring sustainable development.

CSE has questioned the validity of such projects. Its study found out that consultants are often not thorough when preparing the detailed project reports and alleges that international consultants have been known to have 8216;8216;copy-pasted an entire section of the report from one project to another8217;8217;.

The CSE study further says, 8216;8216;For both Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited GFL and SRF, the same questions are asked during consultations. The answers are also verbatim. Thus even if consultations were held, their record in the documents does not seem credible.8217;8217; The GFL project is already registered for CDM and the the SRF project has requested for registration at the UNFCC.

More seriously, Sunita Narain, director, CSE, said, 8216;8216;Not only is the procedure suspect, there is also no evidence that these projects are leading to sustainable development.8217;8217;

According to Environment and Forest Ministry officials, the issue of erring consultants will be taken up once CSE formally writes to them. 8216;8216;The overall procedure is tedious, but we consider India8217;s CDM projects a big success. However, we will argue for its simplification,8217;8217; said S K Joshi, joint secretary in the ministry.