Internatioanl Rivers says The great majority of hydros in the CDM would very likely be built regardless of receiving credits (in CDM-jargon they are "non-additional"), in contravention of the mechanism's basic principle. The CDM was designed to issue credits to projects that are "additional". They point out that More than a third of the large hydros approved for credits by the CDM's Executive Board (a UN body) were already completed before CDM approval. The majority of the projects (89 percent) were expected to be completed within a year following approval, and almost all (96 percent) within two years. As a large hydro project typically takes 4-8 years to build (on top of several years of project preparation), few if any of the developers of these projects could have realistically needed CDM credits to build their dams.
Which does rather suggest that CDM certification is broken. Which brings on the question, in whose interest is it to fix it?
In perspective, the hydro problem is a small component. Most CDM projects are HCFC boondoggles anyway. According to wiki, we have the US to blame for the CDM.
Well, this does sound like a scandal, but I don't understand what hydro has to do with Cold Dark Matter. And has PETA heard that cold dark matter is mostly moon-doggies? Can't something be done to warm them up??? Won't anyone think of the moon-doggies?!?!?
Oh. Never mind.