Private Enterprise and Financial Markets > Environment
Opportunities for GHG Mitigation in Latin America: Carbon Finance and the Clean Development Mechanism
By Michael Pollan (10/05, En, Es)
The importance for the global environment and long-term sustainability of accelerating affordable, cleaner and lower-carbon energy as well as improved energy efficiency is underscored in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and was reaffirmed in a declaration issued by the G8 industrialized countries after their 2005 summit meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland. One important means for promoting both renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE/EE) and other activities for greenhouse gas GHG mitigation has come to be referred to as "carbon finance." The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which became operational in February 2005, is one such mechanism for taking advantage of carbon finance and is linked to an active European market for carbon credits as well as interest in other countries. This report provides an overview and summary of the carbon finance market and the opportunities it offers to Latin America and the Caribbean in several arenas including renewable energy, more efficient urban transport, landfill management, and reforestation.
This working paper is being published with the sole objective of contributing to the debate on a topic of importance to the region, and to elicit comments and suggestions from interested parties. This paper has not gone through the Department's peer review process or undergone consideration by the SDS Management Team. As such, it does not reflect the official position of the Inter-American Development Bank.
Last updated: 01/16/07
