China CDM Fund recognized as global 'lighthouse activity'

The China Clean Development Mechanism Fund has been named a 2013 Lighthouse Activity of the United Nations Momentum for Change initiative, the fund said on Thursday.

The fund was awarded for its support and efforts on low-carbon growth and climate resilience through levies on clean development projects, according to the fund, also called the China CDM Fund or the CCDMF.

The fund is among six lighthouse activities chosen for this year's "financing for climate-friendly investment" category of the Momentum for Change initiative, which was launched by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat and the World Economic Forum in 2011.

"It is the first time that the international award has gone to a working mechanism, which shows China's national-level innovation on tackling climate change," said Chen Huan, the fund's director.

Chen said the fund was set up to contribute to international CDM cooperation under the Kyoto Protocol, and ensures revenues from CDM transactions are used to tackle climate change and promote low carbon development.

So far, the fund has collected 13.3 billion yuan (about 2.18 billion U.S. dollars) in government-sector revenues from CDM transactions, which are primarily used for grants and investment.

The CCDMF is the first clean development mechanism fund of its kind in developing countries. It acts as "seed money" to leverage market capital by integrating fiscal and financial channels into climate-smart sectors, Chen said.

By October of this year, the fund had allocated over 5.27 billion yuan in investments to support 98 projects around the country and had leveraged over 31 billion yuan in market capital.

These projects have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by tens of millions of tonnes.

It has also committed 495 million yuan in grants to support over 200 projects, covering climate change policy research, capacity-building and public awareness.