What are De Facto Programmes of Activities?

A number of projects registered prior to the publication of the detailed guidance and procedural documentation for Programme of Activities (PoA) have been described as de facto Programmes of Activities because they have aggregated the types of emissions reduction opportunities which Programmatic CDM is designed at facilitating - highly dispersed and small scale.

One example is the Kuyasa low-cost urban housing energy upgrade project in Cape Town, South Africa. Registered as a small scale CDM project activity in 2005, this project involved the installation of insulation, solar water heaters and energy efficient lightbulbs in existing and future residential housing in a defined 100 ha area.

Such projects did not benefit from the ability to add additional CDM Programme Activities (CPAs) using the same framework, as is possible under the PoA rules, but do provide an insight into how Programmes of Activities may be implemented and the requirements that may be imposed on them by the Executive Board.