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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are behind the launch of the CDM Bazaar, a web portal designed to facilitate exchange of information among buyers, sellers and service providers engaged in the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Under the CDM, projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries and contribute to sustainable development can earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits. Countries with a commitment under the Kyoto Protocol buy CERs to cover a portion of their emission reduction commitments under the Protocol.

Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said:
"The CDM has seen exponential growth in number of projects, with strong interest in developing countries for projects and in developed countries for CERs. The CDM Bazaar will do just what its name suggests – help buyers and sellers, and all those that serve the market, get down to business."

The CDM Bazaar was designed by the carbon finance team at the UNEP RISOE Centre in Denmark in cooperation with the UNFCCC secretariat. The website allows stakeholders in the CDM to post information, such as potential emission reduction projects looking for financing, CERs available for sale, buyers looking for carbon credits to purchase, services available, carbon market related events, and employment opportunities.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said:
"The CDM is playing an important role in meeting the climate change challenge. However, if the benefits are to be more widely shared, especially in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, more efforts need to be put into building developing-country capacity. The CDM Bazaar is therefore a very welcome new networking initiative with the potential to complement and perhaps broaden the impacts of the physical carbon fairs and Expos now emerging in parts of the world."

By posting their certified emission reduction credits on the CDM Bazaar, developing-country Clean Development Mechanism project proponents can expect competitive offers from carbon credit buyers. The website is not, however, meant to be a trading platform for CERs, but rather an information exchange platform designed to create opportunities for CER buyers and sellers and CDM service providers.

About the UNFCCC
With 191 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership. It is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which has to date 175 member Parties. Under the Protocol, 36 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing transition to a market economy, have legally binding greenhouse gas (GHG) emission limitation and reduction commitments, while developing countries have non-binding obligations to limit emissions. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.


Bungin Micro Hydro Power Project
The Bungin Project, in Indonesia, will be installing 85kW of micro hydropower in Bungin village to generate electricity for its villagers. Prior to the installation, a cooperative was established by the villagers. The cooperative will sell electricity to the villagers and the profit generated will be used to improve the welfare of the villagers.

Without the Bungin project, the villagers would be using diesel generators and kerosene lamps for house lighting.  Once the hydropower station is up and running, it is estimated that about 550,800kg of CO2 will be saved each year from going into the atmosphere.

The project is being run by South South North, a South African based CDM organisation.