Under the Kyoto Protocol there are two project based systems, Joint Implementation (JI) that allows projects to take place in developed nations and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that allows projects to take place in developing nations. To ensure the environmental integrity of the two systems both have a body to oversee them. For CDM this is the Executive Board (EB), for JI this is the Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee (JISC).

The similarities between the two systems end there; however, there are lessons to be learned from both. For example, JI for various reasons has not taken off to the extent that the CDM has. This is primarily due to the more complex institutional arrangements that host nations have to put in place, which incidentally is very much a feather in the cap for the CDM. In terms of the relationship between the “regulated,” which is to say project developers such as EcoSecurities, and the “regulators” like the EB and JISC, JI has just adorned itself in a luxuriant plumage, the radiance of which CDM practitioners can only longingly gaze at.

What I mean by this is that the JISC has just recognized the Project Developers Forum (PDF) as a body that it can and will communicate with in relation to questions around projects and methodologies. Now the uninitiated may have assumed that both systems would logically have formal routes for the “regulated'” to communicate with the “regulator,” well unfortunately the uninitiated would be wrong.

This isn't to say that the EB doesn't directly communicate with project developers, it does, it just doesn't have to if for instance, the EB are asked a question that they don't particularly like, or understand. A process where there is no right to direct communication or any right of appeal can leave people feeling exhausted and disillusioned, which is not beneficial for any market or system.

A repeated theme at the Copenhagen climate change negotiations has been the need for the CDM to become more transparent. If nothing else there may suddenly be an “aha” moment as the EB and CDM community suddenly understand each other's point of view, even if they don't necessarily agree with it. Let's hope that this time lessons will be learned and the EB will recognize the advantages offered by communication bodies such as the PDF. In the words of Bob Hoskins...”It's good to talk!”

Miles Austin is head of European Regulatory Affairs for Ecosecurities.

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