The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was established in Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is one of the three “flexibility mechanisms” established by the Kyoto Protocol in an attempt to lower the overall cost of achieving emissions targets by allowing for access to cost-effective opportunities for reducing emissions in other countries.

This paper provides background information on the Clean Development Mechanism including key statistics related to CDM projects.