CDM Arrives in Guinea

Mercuria has signed Guinea’s first forward sale contract for more than one million carbon credits with Guinea’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.

Emission reductions underlying this transaction will be generated by the installation of anaerobic digesters in order to treat and transform the organic fraction of Conakry‘s waste into renewable electricity.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), an innovative financial incentive built into the Kyoto Protocol to channel funds and technology to developing countries to help them meet their sustainable development goals, falls short in Africa. The global number of CDM projects registered and in the pipeline totals over 4,600 – well above what was envisioned by countries when they negotiated, designed, and launched the mechanism. Frost & Sullivan said Africa has abundant resources to develop the CDM market, often at relatively low costs. The African CDM market is expected to grow from 34 projects in 2009 to well over 100 projects by 2015 (Analyst Says CDM Makes Sense for Africa).

“Companies are gradually realizing that they need to become more sustainable and hence, are changing their wasteful practices and often benefiting from this as a result of CDM,” noted Frost & Sullivan Program Manager Cornelis van der Waal.

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