ARRCC signs an open letter to the Conference of Parties on Climate Change meeting in Durban this week, regarding the need to exclude coal from  Clean Development Mechanism ("CDM") schemes.

CDM schemes allows developed countries to offset their own emissions by paying for reductions in emissions in developing countries. While ARRCC believes that coal definitly should not be included in any "clean" development schemes, a number of members of the management committee have deeper concerns regarding the use of CDMs. You can read the letter that ARRCC has signed below, but we also encourage you to read the following critiques of CDMs:

• Carbon Trade Watch: Carbon offsetting (or CDM)
• CDM Watch: Shortcomings of CDM

To Her Excellency
Mrs. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
COP 17/CMP 7 President

30 November 2011

Open Letter: CDM Coal Power Projects Undermine Efforts of UNFCCC Process

Excellency,

Recognising the urgency of the climate crisis, the signatories to this letter wish to express their deep concern regarding coal power projects in the clean development mechanism. These projects receive millions of Euros of scarce climate finance while locking-in billions of tons of CO2 and causing severe human health and ecosystems damage. Moreover, analysis shows that CDM coal power projects are non-additional and therefore generate millions of artificial carbon credits that increase global emissions and undermine the UNFCCC process. We therefore call on you to ensure that these projects will be excluded from the CDM at COP-17.

Last week, the UN?s CDM Executive Board suspended the crediting rules for coal power projects after an investigation found that the flawed rules could lead to over-issuance of millions of carbon credits that do not reflect real and additional emission reductions. These findings were confirmed and expanded upon by an independent study[1]<#133f4d810a740305__ftn1>which found that the flaws in the methodology leading to the over-crediting are inherent to this project type. The reports conclusion stated that it is unlikely that a revised methodology could ensure that offset credits from CDM coal power projects are real and measurable.

In order to avoid hundreds of millions of carbon credits from unsustainable projects that deliver neither emission reductions, nor sustainable development benefits, Parties here in Durban should decide to exclude coal power projects from the CDM.

On behalf of the organisations listed above and civil society around the world, we call on your Excellency to work with Parties to ensure a CMP decision is taken during COP-17 that excludes coal projects from the CDM. Such a decision is the only means of ensuring that these projects do not undermine developed countries? mitigation commitments under the Kyoto Protocol or divert significant levels of scarce climate finance away from sustainable clean energy projects.

Yours sincerely,

[Climate Action Network Australia]

[Other climate change NGOs]