2011/01/06

Fwd: + UN Cuts Emissions Request Backlog to 30 Days From 90 (Update1)

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UN Cuts Emissions Request Backlog to 30 Days From 90 (Update1)
2011-01-05 17:56:39.476 GMT


(Updates with UN comment on targets in sixth paragraph.)

By Mathew Carr
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The regulator of the United Nations
emissions market said it reduced a backlog of pending requests
for project registration and new credits to 30 days from a
"stubborn high of about 90 days."
The work included shifting about 27 officials into the unit
that handles the requests, the Bonn-based UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change said today in an e-mailed note.
"The backlog was a burden and a great source of
frustration for everyone," said Clifford Mahlung, chairman of
the Clean Development Mechanism executive board. "It's very
satisfying that it has now been tamed."
The UN market forecast Nov. 25 it could achieve an 80
percent decline by Jan. 1 in the backlog of pending submissions
from projects seeking tradable credits and said it may allow
developers to bundle requests. Credits from the market can be
used for compliance by companies in the European Union carbon
market, the world's largest.
Pending applications for issuance would drop to 62 at the
beginning of this month from 312 as of Oct. 22, according to the
November figures published on a UN website.
David Abbass, a CDM spokesman based in Bonn, said today
that pending cases numbered 91 on Jan. 1. The regulator missed
its target because there were higher-than-expected requests in
the final two months of the year, including a record 164 in
December alone, Abbass said by e-mail.
UN credits for December fell 0.7 percent today to 11.23
euros ($14.81) a metric ton today on the ICE Futures Europe
exchange in London, their lowest close in a week.

Backlog History

The backlog of pending requests to issue emission credits
in the UN greenhouse gas market worsened in the five months
through November, while pending project registrations improved.
The bottleneck for issuance of emission credits rose 17
percent to 239 submissions as of mid-November from 204 in mid-
June, according to the data. The backlog for registration fell
70 percent to 94 submissions from 315 in the same period.
The UN has said an expected surge in issuance may test
project managers' "faith" in the market, according to the
website. "The current system of assessments is not designed to
facilitate the processing of the expected volume of
submissions," it said. The UN said it may consider allowing
similar project activities to be "bundled into one issuance
request."
More work would be required, Mahlung said today. "We've
managed to move a mountain that many considered immovable, but
we'll have to stay vigilant throughout the year."

For Related News and Information:
Top renewable energy, power stories: GREEN<GO>, PTOP<GO>
Bloomberg glossary of emissions terminology: IDOC 2059757 <GO>
Emissions menu, prices: EMIS<GO>, EMIT<GO>

--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Alex Devine

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 at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net