Details struggles over basic design and features of the Clean
Development Mechanism established in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to
the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Reviews different
designs and explores how an “open architecture” CDM might
operate. International climate change negotiations are
struggling over the basic design and features of the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM), established in the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Parties
and observers advance three possible implementation models, or
architectures, for the CDM – bilateral, multilateral, or
unilateral. These approaches differ in fundamental ways,
reflecting preferences for the way CDM investment should take
place. Choosing one approach over another will invariably enable
some countries to benefit more than others and favor certain
project types. Because of this, some Parties advocate the use of
only the approach that best serves their particular national
circumstances. The authors examine the characteris