Buildings are responsible for more than one third of total energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions globally, both in developed and developing countries. The potential for drastic reductions of the energy consumption in buildings is significant. However, research presented in this report indicates that the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol has so far hardly at all been able to promote emission reduction projects in buildings.

The report analyses the underlying causes to this situation, and proposes changes to CDM which would allow CDM to support emission reduction projects in buildings and other similar sectors.