Local Actions, Global Impacts: International Cooperation and the CDM

We examine the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) market as form of cooperative involvement between developing-host and developed-investor countries, likely to evolve into a form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with opportunities for further collaboration. We use three variables to measure the level of cooperation, namely number of joint CDM projects, volume of CO_2 abatement realized from the CDM projects, and volume of investment in the CDM projects. We rely on international economics and international relations literature to suggest that the levels of economic development and institutional development, energy structures of the economies, country vulnerability to various climate change effects, political constraints, trade, and historic relations between the host and investor countries are good predictors of the level of cooperation in CDM projects. The main policy relevant conclusions include the importance of simplifying the CDM project regulation/clearance cycle as an essential policy option for further growth of joint CDM projects; improving governance structures in the host and investor countries that would lead to higher political stability and trust between the countries for business, including CDM; and strengthening trade or other long-term economic activities that connect the countries for fostering CDM cooperation. © 2011 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.