TÜV SÜD selected as 'best verifier'
Munich. The readers of British business magazine "Environmental Finance" have selected TÜV SÜD as best verifier of climate change projects under the Kyoto Protocol. Over the last eight years, the emissions trading experts have realized over 1,200 projects based on the Kyoto Protocol. In TÜV SÜD's view, to be successful a climate change agreement requires clear rules and reliable framework conditions for all parties involved.
“The fact that we were selected as best verifier is an important confirmation of the quality of our work", says Dr Peter Langer, CEO of TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH. Over the last eight years, the emissions trading experts have realized well over 1,200 projects based on the Kyoto Protocol. As an impressive success story, 97.37 per cent of CDM projects accompanied by TÜV SÜD were registered at the United Nations. "This success rate and the latest commendation by Environmental Finance are all the more important since the verifiers – the designated operational entities or DOEs – have increasingly come under criticism over the last year", says Langer, alluding to the temporary suspension of two major verifiers by the CDM Executive Board. "The suspensions caused considerable uncertainty in the industry, not only among verifiers but in particular among project initiators", emphasizes the TÜV SÜD representative. In the meantime, many initiators have diverted their investments into other less uncertain areas with lower risk factors, a trend that may cause persistent damage to the function of the Kyoto mechanisms and the mechanisms of any successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
The implementation of climate change projects in line with the Kyoto Protocol is based on the two project-related instruments, Joint Implementation (JI) for projects in developed countries, and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for projects in developing countries. "We were the first organization to be accredited for all 15 scopes of the CDM", reports Dr Sven Kolmetz, Head of Carbon Management Services at TÜV SÜD Industrie Service. "In the meantime, we have processed over 1,100 CDM projects and approximately 100 JI projects in all corners of the world – from hydropower projects in Asia to reforestation projects in Latin America.
We have used the experience we gained in these projects in the continuous development and specification of Kyoto mechanisms, and the CDM in particular." The emissions trading expert indeed sees demand for further review of the CDM, but believes that discussions of fundamental aspects of the system should not be carried out on the back of the verifiers alone. "To fulfil our task within the Kyoto system successfully, we need clear rules and reliable framework conditions", notes Dr Kolmetz. |