CER

Full explainer

CER — Certified Emission Reduction — is the unit instrument issued under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Kyoto-era market mechanism that issued credits for emissions reductions in developing countries. One CER equals one tonne of CO₂e reduced under a CDM-registered project, verified by an accredited Designated Operational Entity (DOE) and recorded in the UN CDM registry with a unique serial number.

Indonesia hosted a substantial CDM project portfolio during the 2007-2014 peak period — landfill gas (ACM0001), palm-oil POME methane recovery (AMS-III.H.), micro-hydro electricity (AMS-I.D.), and clean cookstoves (AMS-II.G.). Most of these projects' CER inventories are long since retired or expired, but secondary-market CER trading continues for compliance buyers under restrictive eligibility lists (Brazil ETS, South Korea K-ETS). With CDM winding down post-2024, the successor mechanism is PACM under Article 6.4.

Related terms

• CDM
• Article 6
• VCU