EcofysAzure’s CDM team has several years’ successful experience in developing various CDM project types, which is especially notable because of the scale of China’s CDM market: China accounts for over 50% of all CDM investment and currently supports fifteen CDM project types. The EcofysAzure team provides specialized services for the duration of the CDM project development cycle, from project initiation to selling carbon credits.

Initiating carbon credits

EcofysAzure assists our clients in initiating carbon credits via the following five steps:

1. Assessing CDM eligibility
Projects must be able to prove additionality, meaning that they would not have occurred without the help of the Clean Development Mechanism. This ensures that true carbon emissions are taking place and provides security for CDM host countries by requiring strict assessment of technological appropriateness and social and environmental impact on the local community. EcofysAzure works with clients to determine CDM eligibility of proposals.

2. Project Design Document (PDD) preparation
The PDD is a document demonstrating a project’s additionality and contribution to the host nation’s sustainable development. EcofysAzure will prepare a thorough PDD for qualified projects and is uniquely able to provide clients with an understanding of the Chinese system.

3. Obtaining Designated National Authority approval
A Letter of Approval from the DNA of a project’s host country is required before a project can be submitted to the CDM Executive Board for registration, which leads to the granting of tradable carbon credits. EcofysAzure is experienced with the Chinese DNA and will provide all necessary support to obtain a Letter of Approval.

4. Validation
A Designated Operative Entity (DOE) must be engaged to validate a project’s PDD’s credibility and appropriateness. EcofysAzure will select a DOE and coordinate the validation process, communicating with the project owner and the DOE. Validation and obtaining DNA approval may be undertaken simultaneously.

5. Registration
If the DOE accepts the proposed project activity as valid, the DOE will submit a registration request in the form of a Validation Report to the CDM Executive Board. EcofysAzure will oversee the process and monitor all registration procedures. A registered project activity is eligible for CERs.

Obtaining carbon credits

Additional implementation steps must be undertaken after a project has been initiated:

6. Monitoring
EcofysAzure will provide guidance on how to implement the monitoring plan outlined in the PDD, collect the necessary data, and produce the periodic monitoring report.

7. Verification and certification
Before the issuance of CERs for a project, verification must take place. EcofysAzure will select a DOE to provide verification for the registered project. After the completion of the verification process, a verification report will be submitted to the CDM EB by the DOE and CERs will be issued to the project owner.

During monitoring and verification, EcofysAzure will facilitate the processes and strive to maximize the CER yields from the project activity.

Selling carbon credits

In parallel with project development, EcofysAzure helps our clients generate revenue from the sales of CERs by taking advantage of our extensive network with major players in the international carbon market. Specifically, as a subsidiary of Econcern, we have unique access to the European market. We target the most suitable buyer of CERs from individual projects or project bundles. EcofysAzure will:

For certain projects, EcofysAzure may also be able to arrange equity, investment, or identification of potential technology providers.