Corporate Strategies and the Clean Development Mechanism

Corporate Strategies and the Clean Development Mechanism

Corporate Strategies and the Clean Development Mechanism

Article Type: Books and resources From: International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Volume 1, Issue 2

Sören Lütken and Axel Michaelowa,Edward Elgar Publishing,Cheltenham,October 2008,173 pp.,£45.00,ISBN 1847209289

This book assesses the organizational structure of projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. It explains why, instead of the expected bilateral structure where a company from an industrialized country invests in a project in a developing country and receives the emission reduction credits in return, a unilateral structure prevails whereby a company from a developing country finances the emission reduction project itself and sells the emission reduction credits.

The book arrives at three fundamental, interconnected, conclusions: CDM is logically a unilaterally driven investment activity; CDM investment is an irrelevant compliance instrument for companies from industrialised countries and the structure of the compromise is flawed and unequal. Unique in its analysis of corporate views on investment in CDM projects, this book will find widespread appeal amongst climate policy analysts, company representatives involved in developing CDM acquisition strategies and climate policymakers. It will also be of interest to anyone involved in the study of climate change, emissions reduction and trading and carbon markets.