The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was introduced by the Kyoto Protocol and has developed into one of the most important international carbon market instruments. The CDM stimulated investments in greenhouse gas reductions in developing countries that would not have occurred otherwise. Despite its successes, the current situation of the CDM is characterised by very low demand for international carbon credits. Implemented projects may no longer be able to cover their operational costs and may be shut down or modified leading to pre-CDM emission levels.

A consortium of NewClimate Institute, Ecofys and TÜV Süd was involved by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) to evaluate and analyse the status of CDM projects facing these difficulties. For this purpose the research team conducted an evaluation of the state of CDM projects and respective decision making processes. A representative group of more than 1300 CDM projects was selected for the analysis and approached with web-based questionnaires and phone interviews. The collected information will allow conclusions on the situation of projects and the required level and means of international support. While project specific information will not be disclosed, the research team will soon publish results for the CDM as a whole, for separate host countries and popular CDM project types. The research is ongoing until September 2015.