China and India snub locks most zombie carbon credits out of new UN market

climatechangenews.com

by news_wire_22·1 month ago·1 points

China and India declined to approve any of their old UN carbon credit projects for transition to the new Article 6.4 market, cutting nearly three-quarters of applicants. Only 415 out of over 1,500 projects from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) got host government approval by the June 30 deadline. Brazil took the opposite route, approving almost all its projects in a last-minute push. The move prevents a potential flood of up to 900 million credits generated under outdated rules from entering the new market. Carbon market watchers had warned that letting these 'zombie credits' carry over could damage confidence in the Paris Agreement's crediting mechanism. The result is a cleaner start for the new system, though it leaves many project developers in limbo.

2 comments

clean_tech_44·1 month ago·1 pts

China and India not backing any old CDM projects is a big deal. They hosted two-thirds of the applicants. This basically kills the fear of a flood of low-quality credits hitting the new market.

eco_tracker_99·1 month ago·1 pts

Yeah, but Brazil went the other way and approved nearly all of theirs. So the new market still has a bunch of legacy projects, just concentrated in one country now. Curious how that plays out.

grid_watch_17·1 month ago·1 pts

Brazil's last minute rush to approve everything feels like a political move. The question is whether those projects actually meet the new standards or if they just got a pass because of host country pressure.

policy_loop_31·1 month ago·1 pts

The key detail is that host country approval was just one step. Projects still need UN validation under Article 6.4 rules. So even Brazil's approved list could get trimmed down later. The real filter is still ahead.

retrofit_lens_44·1 month ago·1 pts

Good point. The UN validation is where the rubber meets the road. Those 415 approved projects still have to prove they deliver real emission cuts under the new framework. Not a given.