A week of highs and (very) lows for the CDM

On Friday 2nd October, with only 2 hours to spare, the final ratifications required to bring the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol (KP) and the KP's Second Commitment Period into effect, were submitted by Jamaica and Nigeria respectively. Given that this was nearly 8 years after the amendment was negotiated, and that the Second Commitment Period itself ends in December 2020, this was a largely symbolic win for the UN.     

But then on Monday the CDM Executive Board (EB) postponed a decision on effectively enabling the CDM to continue operating after 2020. The matter will only be considered again by the EB in December - just weeks prior to the cut-off date for the CDM.  

The issue of the CDM's role in the "new" global climate system under the Paris Agreement is highly contested by the Parties to that agreement. However in the absence of clear rules for an alternative market mechanism under the Paris Agreement and in the context of the Covid pandemic delaying COP26 to November 2021 (i.e. the Parties themselves won't have the opportunity to decide on the matter until it's too late),  the CDM EB's decision to delay leaves CDM projects/ POAs and their investors in a precarious position.