Kyoto Protocol, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Pakistan: An Overview of the CDM Projects in Pakistan

Abstract

As the first commitment period of Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012, the scientists and policy makers look forward to make concrete policies to address the climate crisis. The present market based solutions to mitigate the climate change have faced a lot of criticism. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was intended to be a practical implementation of the “common but differentiated responsibility” principle of the Kyoto Protocol. Attempts to address the climate crisis in the Global South have principally adopted CDM. However the underlying approach of Carbon Trading as an “efficient” method of achieving climate mitigation has faced a considerable barrage of criticism in global activist organizations and in the research literature concerning climate change. This study argues that clean development is a suitable objective for government policy but the tool of the Clean Development Mechanism has little to offer in this regard and is in fact more likely an obstacle to any genuine commitment to clean development. The CDM profile of the country has been made to highlight the discourses of CDM. Different distributions of the CDM illustrate not only the skewed character of CDM but also highlight the absence of CDM from the most polluting sectors of the Pakistan’s economy. This research explores the controversial aspects of CDM including issues of perverse incentives, additionality and baseline manipulation. It explores the relevancy of such critique in case of CDM projects in Pakistan and questions whether CDM is a break from business as usual in the context of Pakistan. It highlights the skewed nature of the CDM globally and locally and questions the integrity of CDM in country in making progress towards clean development in Pakistan. The CDM is more likely to feed the needs of the North to meet their emission reduction targets and its role in contributing to sustainable development in the South remains highly questionable.