With time running out before UN-backed climate negotiations in December, in which a post-2012 successor to the Kyoto Protocol must be mapped out, carbon market participants have been taken aback by EU proposals for a radical redesign of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

While there was growing consensus that the current project-based CDM needs to be improved and expanded post-2012, particularly due to pressure from the US, the EU's stance has added further uncertainty and confusion ahead of