D. Approval Process
It is up to the project developer to initiate the above process and to follow this cycle. However, within the cycle, there are four key points at which official consideration of the project is carried out and various types of approval given.
It is important to note that the Mauritian DNA has a role in only one of these (host country approval) - and plays no part in any of the other approval stages of a CDM project.
Other bodies are also involved and the following table provides a brief introduction to the roles and responsibilities of each.
Host country approval
Who is responsible? Designated National Authority (DNA) of Mauritius
What is examined and approved? Fulfilment of sustainable development criteria. Validation
Who is responsible? A Designated Operational Entity (DOE). This is a third party (ie not the project developer or the DNA) accredited by the Executive Board of the CDM on the basis of the firm’s technical expertise and experience with carbon mitigation and relevant technologies. For more information on DOEs as well as a list of accredited DOEs, visit the UNFCCC website
What is examined and approved? Validation that the project meets international rules of the CDM. Important components of this are validating the baseline of the project and checking that the project fulfilsadditionality criteria. The formal document validated by the DOE is termed a Project Design Document. Registration as an official CDM project | Who is responsible? The CDM Executive Board |
| What is examined and approved? Registration as a CDM project takes place following successful approval by the host country and validation by an operational entity. |
Verification and certification of project performance | Who is responsible? Independent third party - typically not the same operational entity as the one that validated the project |
| What is examined and approved? Each project requires a monitoring and verification protocol (contained within the PDD). The performance of the project is checked against this protocol. Carbon reductions generated are verified and certified. Once this step has been carried out CERs can be issued by the Executive Board. |
Public consultation
CDM projects require specific and extensive consultation with stakeholders - most of what is required is laid down within the rules of the CDM. Stakeholders in this sense are defined as: the public, including individuals, groups or communities affected or likely to be affected by the proposed clean development mechanism project activity.
The various stages of consultation required for CDM projects are: Project Design and Preparation of PDD
Who is responsible? Project developer or owner
The project developer or owner must: | Follow a statutory EIA process where required - including the consultation elements of this process; |
| Invite comments and inputs from communities and other stakeholders; |
| Document all comments received; and |
| Report (within the PDD) on how comments received were addressed within project design. This report is submitted to the DOE as part of the validation process. |
Host country approval
Who is responsible? Designated National Authority
There is no requirement in terms of the CDM rules for public consultation by the DNA in relation to the host country approval process. However, the DNA in Mauritius has decided to make all PDDs publicly available for comment by posting them on its website. These are posted for 30 days.
Validation
Who is responsible? Designated Operational Entity
The DOE must:
| Make the PDD publicly available for comment. The method used must ensure that international parties and stakeholders have access to the document; |
| Receive comments from parties, stakeholders and accredited NGOs over a 30 day period. If a new methodology is received as part of a PDD - the DOE must submit this to the Executive Board for review (and the board will carry out its own consultation on this). |
Once the DOE has carried out the above, the DOE makes a validation decision on the basis of the information provided and taking comments received from consultation into account. The DOE then informs the developer of its decision and submits the result in the form of a validation report to the Executive Board. The validation report must contain a note of actions taken to address comments received.
Registration
Who is responsible? Executive Board
The Executive Board must:
Make the application available for review to parties involved and members of the Executive Board.
Note: Registration by the board is deemed final eight weeks after the date of receipt of the request for registration, unless a party involved in project activity or at least three members of the board request a review of the proposed project activity
