Publications

Cities and Carbon Market Finance: Taking Stock of Cities’ Experience with Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint mplementation (JI)

24 November 2010 - Special issues - By : Christa CLAPP / Gregory BRINER / Jan CORFEE-MORLOT / Olivier SARTOR / Christa CLAPP / Gregory BRINER / Jan CORFEE-MORLOT

By Christa CLAPP, Alexia LESEUR, Olivier SARTOR, Gregory BRINER, Jan CORFEE-MORLOT

The importance of cities in climate policy stems from the simple reality that they house the majority of the world‟s population, two-thirds of world energy use and over 70% of global energy use emissions. At the international level, global carbon markets have become an important new source of financing for mitigation projects and programmes. Yet to date, the participation of urban authorities and of urban mitigation projects in the global carbon market remains extremely limited. The under-representation of urban carbon projects can be linked both to the difficulties to implement urban mitigation projects and to the difficulties for cities to access the carbon market. This paper reviews 10 in–depth case studies of urban projects proposed and operating within the realm of Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. It explores the drivers of success for projects, examining in particular: types of projects that have been successful and their profitability; leadership and other roles of various actors in project initiation development and operation (i.e. local, regional and national governments as well as international, private sector or other non-governmental organisations); the role of local co-benefits; and project financial structure and risk management approaches. This paper also considers how these lessons learned may inform decisions in the future about how to best tap the potential for carbon markets to offer increased levels of financial support for urban mitigation projects or programmes.

Cities and Carbon Market Finance: Taking Stock of Cities’ Experience with Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint mplementation (JI) Download
To learn more
  • 10/09/2025 Hors série
    10 years of I4CE, our partners talk about us

    This year marks an important milestone for I4CE: we are celebrating a decade of commitment to the climate economics. We would like to thank our partners who agree to say a few words at the occasion of this anniversary.  

  • 09/26/2025 Foreword of the week
    A decade of commitment to advancing economic policies for the climate

    This year marks an important milestone for I4CE: we are celebrating our 10-year anniversary. Setting sails the year the Paris Agreement was adopted, our mission was clear from the outset: to promote effective, efficient and fair policies for the climate transition.  Since then, we have focused our economic analysis on public policies with an emphasis on assessing the investment needs and policy options for the transition. Our ambition has been to advance the public debate on climate with facts and figures, promoting long-term investment plans as an essential tool to turn political ambitions into reality. Over the years, we have applied this approach to a growing number of policy areas and expanded our geographical scope from France to Europe and internationally.

  • 09/05/2025 Foreword of the week
    2030 and Beyond: Budgeting Europe’s Climate Transition

    The next long term EU budget will take us through the 2030 goal posts, by when GHG emissions should be down by 55%. It will also lay the groundwork for investing in a climate-neutral future for the continent towards the yet-to-be agreed objectives for 2040. So, when the European Commission presented its proposal for a €2 trillion multiannual financial framework (MFF) just before the summer break, there was good reason to carefully study the details from the perspective of closing the EU’s climate investment deficit.  

See all publications
Press contact Amélie FRITZ Head of Communication and press relations Email
Subscribe to our mailing list :
I register !
Subscribe to our newsletter
Once a week, receive all the information on climate economics
I register !
Fermer