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THE
Philippines is hosting this year a forum on
clean-development mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol
for the members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(Apec) Forum in order to orient their small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) on how to take advantage of the
$21-billion emerging business.
Edsel
Custodio, foreign undersecretary for international
economic affairs, said the hosting of the international
forum on carbon trading, specifically on the CDM, is
part of the Philippine commitments in last year’s Apec
Summit held in Australia.
“The
forum seeks to increase awareness and understanding on
the clean-development mechanism for SMEs in the
Philippines and the region and how they can take
advantage of the business opportunities,” said Custodio
in an interview Monday.
The CDM
provision of the Kyoto Protocol allows rich economies
from Europe, Japan and the United States to purchase
certified emission reductions (CERs) from developing
countries to augment their requirements under the treaty
in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
The
Kyoto Protocol requires developed countries to reduce
greenhouse- gas emissions by as much as 50 percent by
2012. But the treaty also allows the rich countries to
seek CERs from developing countries as the latter do not
have similar commitments to reduce toxic emissions.
Most of
the developing countries now taking advantage of CDM
business opportunities are India, Brazil and China.
“The
necessity to hold a CDM forum was recognized during the
Apec Summit in Australia last year,” said Custodio.
The
global market for CDM reached over $7.6 billion in 2005,
and this is expected to further increase to $21 billion
in 2012.
Custodio
said the Apec economies that comprise rich and
developing countries remain divided on whether top
polluters like India, Brazil and China should also be
required to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions under the
Kyoto Protocol.
The
Philippines would like to focus on the business
opportunities that the CDM can offer at the moment. “The
Philippines’ position is to allow developing countries
in Apec to take advantage of the CDM business
opportunities and later on tackle a wider Kyoto Protocol
that would include India, China and Brazil,” he said. |
