Our special feature on the Cancun Summit on lesechos

Attract private investors in the financing of the countries of the South against climate change. The objective is in the minds of the negotiators meeting in Cancun, seeking to build financial instruments to lift the 30 to $ 100 billion annual of the future Green Fund which must be created for this purpose. Many options are being studied, green bonds to the carbon taxes, passing through the greening of pension funds.

In this context, the instruments introduced by the Kyoto Protocol are found in the Ford. What are yet currently only able to attract private capital to investments in projects for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries.

The Kyoto Protocol combines two instruments of development: the European carbon market, hosted by the quotas allocated to 11.500 European industrial facilities, and the clean development mechanism (CDM). The Office of the United Nations posts today over 2,000 CDM projects, which will in principle avoid 1.8 billion tonnes of CO2. More than double is in training. Experts also expect a few hundreds of millions more in a cousin, joint implementation (JI) mechanism.

Energy focus today 63 of CDM projects. Come then capture and flaring of methane from landfills, and optimization of mills, cement factories, chemical industries. However, transportation attracted few projects, despite their high share in emissions.

Controversial projects

Almost 80 of CDM projects are carried out in Asia-Pacific, 41 in China, and 19 in Latin America. China has implemented an offensive policy on the CDM, including export credits should bring recipe EUR 15 billion. Chinese own projects focusing investment on the 100 billion raised in total 60 billion by the CDM. These figures show the effectiveness of the device but also lend open to criticism. In a note of decryption on the issues of Cancun, French expert Pierre Radanne recalled that the CDM have failed to fulfil their role of development in the countries with the greatest needs, such as Africa or South America. Investors have preferred "sectors characterized by both large and profitable projects", regrets. It can also blame the CDM projects inconsistent with sustainable development, as evidenced by the cheating of certain reduction projects gas HFC 23 in China or the support to large destructive dams. Europe however has confirmed that it will exclude the credits issued by these projects on carbon markets after 2013.

Asymmetry of risk

The current design of the CDM problems two other, recalled by climate Economist Christian de Perthuis. To avoid the effect of boon, the United Nations refuses to projects whose profitability would be possible without recovery of credits, a choice that does not encourage the optimisation of the projects. It also recalls that these may deter countries tighten their environmental regulations for not draining funding CDM. For example, if the Brazil goes to the recovery of biogas, the CDM of this type can no longer assert a green gain to the United Nations. For the Economist, the CDM is therefore a good boot technologies to reduce emissions but, once mature, of other instruments should be preferred. Another track of improvement, designing accessible carbon credits within the broader framework of national or regional programmes. Also remains the asymmetry of risk between the carrier of the project and its investors. For Christian de Perthuis, carbon finance protects a maximum with blankets or pre-sales of the credits, postponing the risk on the single carrier.

Finally, carbon markets and their mechanisms of development can provide a solution to scale that provided to extend the number in the world and imposing stricter quotas for just the price of carbon credit.

Our special feature on the Cancun Summit on lesechos.frlesechos.fr