Critical Look at UNFCCC’s New Voluntary Tool for Assessing CDMs ‘ hat tip to our colleagues at helio , Editor
We are pleased to inform you that the online voluntary tool designed by theunfccc secretariat to highlight the sustainable development co-benefits ofcdm project activities and PoAs in a structured, consistent, comparable androbust manner is now available for use by project participants andcoordinating/managing entities (CMEs).For the first time under the CDM, the sustainable development tool (SDtool) enables cdm project developers to highlight the sustainabledevelopment benefits of their projects or PoAs by using a check list ofpredefined criteria and indicators. Project developers who use the tool willbe able to generate sustainable development co-benefit description reports(SDC description reports) for their project activities or PoAs.By enabling project participants to elaborate on the sustainable developmentco-benefits of their projects in this way, the SD tool aims to enhance thetransparency of the mechanism while maintaining host countries’prerogative to define their criteria for sustainable development.SDC description reports will be published on the unfccc website on therelevant project activity or PoA web page and also on a new summary webpage. Anyone may view the published reports.In the coming months, the secretariat will seek your feedback to improve thetool by launching a call for public input and organizing special events forstakeholders. Analysis of the use of the SD tool and areas for improvementwill be reported by the secretariat to the CDM Executive Board at itsmeeting in September 2014.For further information and to view the SD tool and any published SDCdescription reports, please visit the link below:http://cdm.unfccc.int/