By Kari Williamson

Projects registered under the CDM can earn saleable credits when reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to sustainable development. Each project must use an approved methodology to determine existing, pre-project emissions and monitor ongoing emissions once the project is up and running.

The methodology can be used by projects that install renewable electricity generation technologies in communities with no access to electricity, as long as 75% of the consumers are households.

Included is the concept of 'suppressed demand', which was adopted by the Executive Board in July 2011. Under suppressed demand, a project developer in a least-developed country can assume some level of future development, and thus a certain projected level of emissions, and then can propose a project to reduce those future emissions with the help of clean technology.

The methodology also includes more straight-forward monitoring requirements.

CDM Executive Board Chair Maosheng Duan, says: "Almost a quarter of the people in the world lack access to electricity. This methodology, which will allow people to access both clean and affordable technology, should help address this significant drag on development."