Brussels, 22/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 17 June, the European Investment Bank (EIB), CDC Climate, a newly created Caisse des Dépôts subsidiary, the French Development Agency (FDA), PROPARCO, Cassa depositi e prestiti (CDP) and KfW Bankengruppe (KfW) decided to join forces to study and promote the creation of a Mediterranean Carbon Fund (MCF).
The initiative, designed to support deployment of climate friendly projects around the Mediterranean, has been launched within the scope of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). It will provide expertise on the country level and additional financing to projects developed in the southern and eastern Mediterranean. The MCF will use carbon credits generated under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), covering renewable energy, waste management and energy efficiency projects. Consistent with the 2008 European Union climate and energy package, these credits can be created until 2020.
The fund will bring together European public financial institutions with strong experience in carbon markets and in developing projects in the region. They will be able, in an open partnership, to provide long term support for the initiative, in cooperation with financial partners from the southern and eastern Mediterranean, which could participate in the Mediterranean Carbon Fund under a more restricted geographical mandate.
The Mediterranean Carbon Fund is expected to be set up during 2011. Its size will be based on an evaluation of the volume of carbon credits potentially generated by projects under the CDM and could be delivered by 2020 in the region, including Jordan. The overall fund size could reach €200 million.
To guarantee the number, current status and quality of the projects, the Mediterranean Carbon Fund will be supplemented by an upstream study and technical assistance facility. This facility will aim to provide effective support to project developers, particularly to prepare registration of projects by the CDM Executive Board. (O.L./transl.jl)