Enel's head of carbon strategy Giuseppe Deodati, has defended the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Enel's involvement with controversial industrial gas projects such as HFC-23 reduction, reports Reuters: U.N. carbon market a success despite criticism: Enel

HFC-23 reduction projects, which account for the lion's share of Chinese CDM greenhouse gas reductions have been criticised for artificially boosting HFC-23 production simply to benefit from the high level of credits earned by the subsequent destruction of the gas. The Chinese government has sinced plugged the HFC-23 loophole with the introduction of a tax on CERs generated from such projects.

"We need to bear in mind that for industrial gases like HFC 23, we have the biggest proportion of greenhouse gas abatements that have been developed so far. We shouldn't forget that," Deodati told Reuters.

In a 2006 review of the CDM, the UN said industrial gases had in fact played a very important part in generating large amounts of carbon credits and liquidity early on in the scheme. However, it is likely HFC-23 destruction will be excluded, or heavily controlled, from the next phase of CDM starting 2012 - the issue will be a major talking point at the COP15 Copenhagen climate talks this December.

Reuters story here.