http://unfccc2.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cdm57/pdf/5b_EB57_DOE_Forum.pdf
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UN CO2 Auditors Seek Time Limit, Appeals on Liability (Update1)
2010-10-13 12:23:46.486 GMT
(Adds names of audit firms in fourth paragraph.)
By Mathew Carr
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Auditors that validate and verify
emission-reduction projects for the United Nations are seeking a
time limit and appeals process to ease their liability risks.
The executive board of the Clean Development Mechanism, the
Bonn-based regulator of the world's second-largest carbon
market, is seeking authority for auditors to acquire and cancel
emission credits deemed to be improperly issued.
That may create a liability that is "orders of magnitude
greater than the financial returns from operating," the
Designated Operational Entities Forum, a group of audit firms,
said in a report on the website of the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change. "Entities will have to reassess whether they
can afford to participate in the CDM," the report said.
The auditors, known as designated operational entities in
rules of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, include Det Norske Veritas
Ltd, TUEV SUED and Bureau Veritas SA. They are hired to validate
projects and check emissions savings in developing countries
that are financed by investors in exchange for tradable credits.
Rival audit firms should not undertake assessments because
that would create a conflict of interest, the forum said. The
firm doing the assessment "would effectively have significant
influence over the accreditation, the ability to operate and
even the financial viability of a competitor entity," the
report said.
The time limit for liability was not specified in the forum
submission, which was "agreed by all entities," it said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Power Stories: PTOP <GO>
Emissions-trading stories: NI ENVMARKET BN <GO>
Today's top energy news: ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
