The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is seeking to develop an “up-scaled” CDM-based mechanism in southern and eastern Mediterranean countries, and has launched a €1.5 million tender to recruit a Spanish-registered consultancy to help build it.
The bank wants to establish more renewable energy projects in the so-called SEMED region, efforts it said will “lay grounds for potential scale-ups” and lead to the generation of carbon credits that are to be bought by the consultancy.
The EBRD is already developing renewable energy installations with project sponsors in SEMED countries including Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, and said it remains committed to supporting the development of carbon markets in all the nations in which it operates.
In a procurement notice on its website on Oct. 26, the EBRD said the consultant would be expected to:
– Develop, implement and purchase CDM-style credits from the renewable energy sector in one or more SEMED countries.
– Contribute and support the carbon market development by reviewing the options, including domestic use of carbon credits, and developing local capacity, in particular in the area of MRV and large emission reduction project management.
– Contribute to the further development of up-scaled CDM-based carbon credit instruments, such as PoAs under the CDM or new market mechanisms.
The EBRD did not specify whether the credits would ultimately be used for compliance or cancelled.
It anticipates that the €1.5 million in required funding will come from the Spanish Green Carbon Fund, which is part of the Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund – a joint venture between the EBRD and the EIB tasked with helping originate emissions reductions to aid European nations to hit their carbon-cut targets.
For this reason, the EBRD said the consultancy firm must be registered in Spain and that all experts assigned to the project must be either Spanish nationals or permanent residents of Spain.
The EBRD said the project is expected to start in Feb. 2016 and have an estimated overall duration of 36 months.
The bank is currently working to develop carbon markets in other countries including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Turkey under its Preparedness for Emissions Trading in the EBRD Region (PETER) project.
The EBRD, which also operated several carbon funds that sourced credits from the CDM and JI schemes, is owned by more than 60 countries and two intergovernmental institutions.
By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com
