UN suspended project verifier
The UN body overseeing clean development mechanism, or CDM, has suspended one of its verifiers for CDM projects for lax audit and veri fication. CDM allows emission-red uction projects in developing countries to earn carbon credits. On December 2, the CDM Executive Board said it had suspended Norwegian company Det Norske Veritas, after an investigation in November revealed flaws in its auditing. The company is a major player in the US $13 billion CDM market and has verified about half the projects registered with the UN. A verifier has to prove that a project seeking funding through CDM is not viable without that funding. But this has often proved difficult to ascertain. Environmental groups have for long criticized that the scheme provides millions of dollars to projects that either deliver minimal emission reductions or would have gone ahead regardless.
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