Brazilian projects loom large in the early stages of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Kyoto Protocol program aimed at promoting greenhouse-gas reductions in developing countries. The CDM allows developed nations subject to Kyoto Protocol emissions limits to meet their targets in part by acquiring credits for greenhouse-gas reduction carried out in developing countries. Called certified emissions reductions, or CERs, these credits have been issued by the CDM executive board since late October of last year. As of late May, Brazil ranked second only to India in the number of projects in the various stages of the CDM approval process, with 145. Before a project can begin generating income, it must be validated by an independent certifying agency, approved by the host-country... [Log in to read more]