The AIJ pilot phase as laboratory for CDM and JI

The Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) program has developed about 150 greenhouse gas reduction and sequestration projects in many economic sectors in over 40 countries during the last six years. Most of these projects are rather small and many of them have only been partially implemented due to lack of finance. The lack of emissions credits is the main reason. Only half a dozen investor countries and even less host countries have developed real national AIJ programs. The criteria of these programs have often delayed the acceptance of projects which have not really been implemented. Most of the implemented projects are commercially viable unless they have been financed by an investment subsidy. The problems of additionality and baseline determination, that manifest themselves in differing standards of baseline setting, did lead to a lot of research and proposals for methodologies. However, these methodologies have so many political implications that it has not been possible to get quick decisions on baseline rules for the CDM. Reporting has been shown to be one of the weak spots of the AIJ regime, as its quality is highly variable and data are not comparable, especially concerning costs.