Suggested Citation:
Rouhani, Omid M. (2013) The Clean Development Mechanism and Sustainability in the Transportation Sector. Transportation Research Board 2013 Annual Meeting, 1 - 22

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a program under the Kyoto Protocol designed to help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The program was originally adopted to reduce the cost of compliance for Annex I countries and, as a result, has failed to foster renewable, transportation-related, or small projects that have uncertain gains for Annex I countries. The fundamental question is whether or not the CDM can incentivize sustainable development, especially in terms of GHG reductions, in the ever-growing transportation sector of the developing world. Among the various transportation projects, fuel switch and mode switch projects are the most common options in the CDM, mainly because travel activity, vehicle efficiency and occupancy, and infrastructure investments are too broad for a project-based approach. A sectoral approach or Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) could provide a better fit for transportation policies; however, probably due to its more complex structure, no sectoral transportation option has been approved in the CDM. This paper reviews and critiques the CDM, and considers modifications to improve the program in these contexts.

Keywords: The Clean Development Mechanism; Sustainability; Developing countries; Greenhouse gases