Authored by NewClimate Institute and the Öko-Institut, this publication forms part of a broader project, commissioned by the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) at the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA), with the primary objective to analyse the current situation and development of the international carbon markets.


Despite its previous successes and achievements, the global carbon market find itself currently in a crucial and uncertain period.

The large number of mitigation activities initiated through the two most important project based carbon market mechanisms - the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI ) - has led to an increasing supply of emission reduction credits, which in recent years has superseded the demand for such credits.

Our new report looks at the vulnerability of CDM projects for discontinuation, as well as exploring options to support continued mitigation.

Research Objectives

This report address three key research questions:

  1. To what extent are different types of existing CDM projects at risk of discontinuing GHG abatement?
  2. What is the potential GHG abatement impact, compared to the current status quo, of supporting the continuation of GHG abatement of these projects?
  3. What are options to ensure the short- and long-term continuation of existing CDM projects that are at risk of discontinuing GHG abatement?
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