August 2004 : CENTRIC AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL invites Chinese municipalties to CDM cooperation

The participation of CAI managing director Gerhard Weihs as international energy policy expert in the United Nations Development Programme Clean Energy Action China gave the opportunity to discuss with Mr. LI Baoshan from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, which is in charge of this project, how the participating 18 chinese pilot cities could use the CDM mechanism for co-financing innovative and emission reducing projects.

During a workshop in Shenyang, held at the end of August 2004, Mr. LI Baoshan and Mr. Gerhard Weihs submitted to the participating chinese cities an official invitation to propose CDM-projects to CENTRIC AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL.

Invitation to Chinese municipalities to identify and propose suitable GHG emission reducing projects for international cofinancing in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) framework of the Kyoto protokol.
The Clean Development Mechanism (Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol) allows Annex I countries (eg. member countries of the European Union) to purchase emission reduction certificates through projects in non-Annex I countries (eg. the People’s Republic of China). The peculiarity of the CDM is that, in contrast to other mechanisms, participation of the developing countries is provided for, meaning of the countries having no qualified emissions limitation or reduction commitments. For the developing countries, CDM therefore represents an important instrument for technology transfer and ought to contribute to sustainable development. Participation in CDM projects takes place by mutual agreement between the investor and home countries. While carrying out a CDM project, an Annex I country or an institution or enterprise from an Annex I country A participates in an emissions reducing project in a developing country (Non Annex I country) B and can purchase resulting Certified Emission Reductions (CERs).
The People’s Republic of China is considered as one of the most potential non-Annex I countries to enter into CDM co-operations with Annex I countries. A number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed bilaterally between PR China and other countries like Austria recently. The formal requirements to enter concrete CDM activities is prepared meanwhile. Some of the European countries like Austria already have prepared annual budgets to purchase CERs.

CENTRIC AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL has set up a professional team including the Austrian Carbon Management (ACM) group to support applicants in China and partners in Europe to develop and implement CDM projects with European countries. Applicants are those institutions, who are the Chinese owners of CERs and have the power to trade them international (eg. owners of power plants, ESCOs, etc.).
The objectives are:
- to invite Chinese cities (in particular the participating cities in the UNDP Clean Energy Action project) to identify energy projects, which could be eligible for co-financing under the rules of CDM;
- to perform a first screening of possible projects based on a simple checklist (see annex);
- to select a first number of promising projects;
Upon the pre-selection of projects CENTRIC AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL is ready to support the Chinese applicants to elaborate the documents to apply CDM projects to suitable institutions in Europe.

Priority areas

- Construction (retrofitting) of combined heat and coupling plant
- Energy sources transfer in energy conversion installations and production plants to renewable energy sources or from energy sources with high carbon content to energy sources with lower carbon content, especially in existing district heating systems
- Construction (or retrofitting) of generating plants operated with renewable energy sources (especially wind power stations, biogas or biomass combined heat and power coupling as well as hydroelectric power plants)
- Projects whose purpose is the avoidance or (energy) recovery of landfill gas
- Waste management measures which contribute to avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions especially through energy recovery of waste, if possible under consideration of waste heat utilisation
- Projects serving the reduction of end-user energy consumption in residential accommodation, public and private service office buildings as well as in industrial applications and processes (including waste heat potentials) (energy efficiency projects)
- Other (eg. Treatment of gas emissions from coal mines)