What are the Main Project Types?

CDM projects can be designed using established guidelines, or if none exist for the project type, guidelines can be established specifically for the project. These guidelines are referred to as a methodology, and must be approved by the CDM Executive Board. Methodologies are split into three main types:

• Small-scale: Includes renewables, energy efficiency and other project. Projects must be less than 15MW in the case of energy generation projects to qualify as "small-scale"

• Non-small-scale methodologies and consolidated methodologies, which combine several different approaches: This category spans project types such as renewable energy, incineration of industrial chemical waste streams such as HFC23 and N2O, methane reduction activities such as landfill and animal waste management, and other types such as energy efficiency.
   

• Forestry: Afforestation / Reforestation, typically remediation of degraded land. Methodologies for avoided deforestation are currently under discussion.

This list of approved methodologies has primarily been driven bottom-up, where project developers originate and design new methodologies based on their CDM projects, and submit it to the regulatory body, the CDM Executive Board, overseen by the UNFCCC, for approval.

Working from the top-down, the CDM Executive Board is also supposed to encourage the submission of such methodologies through a transparent assessment procedure, in a speedy manner.