China rejected 33 of 54 CCER project approvals at a recent meeting, data released Friday showed, confirming market concerns that the regulator is tightening rules on additionality.

The NDRC on Friday released a list of 21 CCER projects it had approved at a recent review meeting, held over two sessions in January and February.

The regulator had announced before that meeting that 54 projects would be reviewed in the session, meaning the it turned down a total of 33 applications.

Sources said the rejections were due to tighter scrutiny on additionality criteria.

Carbon Pulse reported earlier this week that several project developers had been warned by the NDRC over project applications, as many had wildly exaggerated their expected CCER revenue in order to meet industry benchmark IRR levels.

Sources said many applications estimated income of 80-120 yuan ($12.90-19.30) per CCER, even though the current market price is only 18-25 yuan.

The NDRC had another review meeting this week, evaluating 40 more projects.

No information from that meeting has been released yet, although three sources have told Carbon Pulse “several” projects were rejected at the latest meeting as well.

The rejected projects will get a chance to reapply, but even if they pass the second review, CCER supply is set to enter the market later than potential buyers had expected.

Almost 100% of the offsets issued so far are pre-CDM CCERs, which are ineligible for use in the pilot markets in Beijing, Chongqing, Guangdong and Shanghai.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com