DNV wins back UN authorisation for CDM project approval

The UN has reinstated Det Norske Veritas (DNV) as an authorised verifier of emission reduction projects within the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) offset scheme, after the company moved to improve its processes for validating and verifying projects.

In a shock move late last year, the executive board of the UN's CDM suspended DNV from accrediting new projects as eligible for the scheme, after spot checks carried out in early November revealed flaws in its auditing processes and found that one individual who had signed off reports on five separate projects had not actually surveyed them.

The company - which has accredited almost half the CDM-certified emission reduction projects worldwide - said it had subsequently tightened auditing processes and has now been reinstated as an official verifier of projects for the CDM, as well as those projects applying to enter the UN's Joint Implementation (JI) scheme or attain the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS).

"We took the spot check findings very seriously, and we have allocated our best resources to correct them," said DNV's chief executive Henrik O Madsen. " Through these actions we have now further formalised and thus improved the documentation of our processes for validation and verification of CDM projects. Today we are better able than ever to carry out this work."

The company said that despite being suspended from officially accrediting new emission reduction projects as CDM compliant, it had continued to carry out verification work on projects and as a result only a small number of developments would have faced delays gaining accreditation as a result of the suspension.

"We have been in close contact with our customers all the way and are grateful that our customers have shown patience with us during this time," said Madsen.

DNV had originally protested at the suspension, arguing that it was a " strong reaction" to issues with its verification processes.

But offset industry experts said at the time that the UN was under pressure to crack down on projects that had been allowed to sell carbon credits without adequately proving that they were delivering real reductions in emissions.