Carbon markets are an effective instrument for climate change mitigation, directing financial resources toward activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promoting clean technologies. The IDB provides technical assistance to its clients, private companies and public institutions in the region, to identify and develop eligible projects under the main carbon trading schemes, in particular under the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM).

The technical assistance covers the following main areas:

• Assessment of projects and investment portfolios to identify activities with a potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that could be implemented with the input from carbon markets instruments.
• Preparation and documentation of projects eligible for carbon markets.
• Processing eligible projects through the project cycle, including the independent assessment (known as validation) required under the different carbon schemes.
• Definition of strategies for the commercialization of carbon credits.
• Legal analysis of issues related to the negotiation of carbon credits and the processing of projects eligible for carbon markets.