The United Nations stopped approving aid for Chinese wind-power projects until it determines whether they qualify unfairly, Bloomberg said.
The reason behind the fact is because of UN concern that low power rates set by the state help projects meet requirements to get carbon credits, said a National Development and Reform Commission official.
The UN program has become the world’s largest generator of carbon credits and China the biggest beneficiary. The tradable credits typically are awarded to foreign investors in return for them financing emission-reduction projects in developing countries including India.
The UN stopped accrediting Chinese wind farms in the middle of the year on concern that subsidies were cut to make them eligible for the international body’s Clean Development Mechanism, the Financial Times said Nov 2.
The UN board has issued 354.9 million tons of CDM credits since the first in October 2005, valued at 4.4 billion euros ($6.6 billion) at today’s benchmark price of 12.50 euros. China is the biggest beneficiary, earning carbon credits worth more than $1 billion, the Financial Times said.
China’s wind-power subsidies rose “substantially” to 2.4 billion yuan ($352 million) in 2008 from 138 million yuan in 2002, the NDRC said in a statement on Nov. 26.
The government will invest at least 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion) to more than double its wind-power capacity by 2010 from last year, Shi Lishan, deputy of renewable energy at the NDRC, said on June 2.
