The Clean Development Mechanism (MDL) is one of the mechanisms of flexibility created by the Kyoto Protocol to help the gases emission reduction process of the greenhouse effect (GEE) or of the carbon capture (or carbon seizure) by the Annex 1 countries.

The purpose of the MDL is to give attendance to the Non-Annex I Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (CQNUMC, or with the acronym in English UNFCCC) so that they make viable the sustainable development through the implementation of the project respective activity and contribute to the final objective of the Convention and, on the other hand, to give assistance to the Annex I Parties so that they can carry out their quantified promises of limitation and reduction of the greenhouse effect gases emission [1].

Developing countries (Non-Annex I Parties) can implement projects that contribute to the sustainable development and that presents a reduction or capture of gases emission which causes the greenhouse effect obtaining the Certified Reductions of Emissions (RCEs � in Portuguese, or in the acronym in English, CERs).

The RCEs emitted by the MDL Executive Council, can be negotiated in the global market. As the industrialized countries (Annex I Parties) have quotas of gases emissions reduction which cause the greenhouse effect, they can acquire the RCEs of project developers in developing countries to help in the fulfillment of their goals.

The MDL seeks the reach of the sustainable development in developing countries (host country), from the implantation of cleaner technologies in these countries, and the contribution so that the countries of the Annex I carry out their emission reductions.

The MDL projects can be based on renewable and alternative energy sources, efficiency and conservation of energy or reforestation. There are clear and rigid rules for approval of projects in the MDL context. These projects must use approved methodologies, must be validated and checked by the Designated Operational Entities (EODs), and must be approved and registered by the MDL Executive Council. The projects must be approved by the host country government through the Designated National Authority (AND- in Portuguese), as well as by the government of the country that will buy the CERs. In Brazil, the Inter ministerial Committee of the Climate Global Change, established in 1999, acts like a Brazilian AND (Designated National Authority).

The first MDL project, approved by the ONO in the world, was the sanitary landfill of �Nova Igua�u�, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which uses quite precise technologies of sanitary engineering, having the carbon credits been negotiated straightly with the Netherlands.

Categories of MDL projects

The Executive Council (CE in Portuguese) of the MDL numbered the following sectors where MDL projects can be developed. The CE-MDL based oneself on the A Annex of the Kyoto Protocol for its elaboration.
A MDL project activity can be related to more than one sector.

Sector 1. Energy generation (renewable and non-renewable)
Sector 2. Energy distribution
Sector 3. Energy demand (projects of energy efficiency and conservation)
Sector 4. Production industries
Sector 5. Chemical industries
Sector 6. Construction
Sector 7. Transport
Sector 8. Mining and production of minerals
Sector 9. Metal production
Sector 10. Fuel fugitive gases emission
Sector 11. Fugitive gases emission in the production and consumption of halocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride
Sector 12. Use of solvents
Sector 13. Treatment and management of residues
Sector 14. Reforestation and forestation
Sector 15. Agriculture

Stages of the MDL projects

Project conception (preparation of the Project Note of Idea)
Preparation of the project conception document (DCP in Portuguese)
Validation
Approval obtainment of the country host
Register
Project implementation
Monitoring
Checking and certification
Emission of the RCEs (carbon credits)

Countries that belong to the Annex I of the Kyoto Protocol

The Annex I parties are the countries which have goals in relation to the Kyoto Protocol. They are divided in two sub-groups:(1) those countries that need to reduce their emissions and therefore can become buyers of credits originating from the MDL, like Germany, Japan, Netherlands; and, (2) the countries that are in economical transition and for this reason can be hosts of projects like Joint Implementation (that is another flexibility mechanism of the Kyoto protocol) such as Ukraine, Russia, Romania, etc.
See the list of Annex I Parties in the list of the Kyoto Protocol member countries.

Types of projects
Gas capture in sanitary landfill
Swinish dejection treatment and biogas reuse
Fuel exchange
Energy generation through renewable sources (biomass, wind power, small and medium hydro electrics),Solar energy
Solid urbane residues compound
Generation of methane from organic residues (bio gasification)
Residue pyrolysis
Forestation and reforestation in degraded areas
Note: Areas of forests protection or avoided deforestation are not MDL projects and therefore they cannot require RCEs.

THE KYOTO PROTOCOL

In 1997, in the city of Kyoto in Japan, counting on representatives of 159 nations, the third Conference of Parties (COP3) was carried out, which culminated in the adoption by consensus, of a protocol- Kyoto Protocol- that is one of the most important marks since the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change CQNUMC (in Portuguese) in the combat to the climatic change.
The Kyoto Protocol defines that the industrialized countries (Annex I) would reduce in at least 5,2% their combined emissions of greenhouse gases in relation to the levels of 1990.
In order that the Kyoto Protocol became effective, it was decided that it would be necessary the ratification of at least 55 countries, and that they together should correspond for at least 55% of the GEES global emissions.
The Protocol became effective on February 16, 2005 and it means that it has a legal commitment linking all the involved Parties, and the non-complaisance of any Party will be subject to the penalties in the Protocol.