What are Flexible Mechanisms?
Flexible Mechanisms, also sometimes known as Flexibility Mechanisms or Kyoto Mechanisms, refers to Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism, and Joint Implementation. These are mechanisms defined under the Kyoto Protocol and intended to lower the overall costs of achieving its emissions targets. These enable parties to achieve emission reductions or to remove carbon from the atmosphere cost-effectively in other countries. While the cost of limiting emissions varies considerably from region to region, the benefit for the atmosphere is in principle the same, wherever the action is taken. Much of the negotiations on the mechanisms have to do with ensuring their integrity. There was concern that the mechanisms do not confer a “right to emit” on Annex 1 parties or lead to exchanges of fictitious credits that would undermine the Protocol’s environmental goals. The negotiators of the Protocol and the Marrakesh Accords therefore sought to design a system that fulfilled the cost-effec
