Is the Clean Development Mechanism Effective for Emission Reductions?

This research studies whether the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol achieves its objective of emission reductions in the host countries. It empirically investigates the impacts of CDM projects on CO₂ emission reductions for 60 CDM host countries over 2005-10. This research makes use of the newly-developed econometric methods for dynamic panel data models associated with X-differencing procedure. It provides evidence in support of a decline in CO₂ emissions in the CDM host countries. It has important policy implications that encourage the international community to support developing countries’ efforts towards low-carbon development via CDM projects