In August 2015, the UNFCCC launched the fifth Regional Collaboration Centre ("RCC") in Bangkok, Thailand, to promote clean energy investment in the Asia-Pacific region. The Bangkok RCC joins four other regional centers established by the UNFCCC to support the Clean Development Mechanism ("CDM"), a market-based mechanism forming part of the Kyoto Protocol that allows developed countries to offset their carbon emissions by funding emission reduction projects in developing countries. The CDM allows such projects to earn certified emission reductions, thereby encouraging clean energy investment.

The RCCs are designed to assist nations in identifying and developing CDM projects while reducing investor risk and transaction costs. The Bangkok RCC will partner with the Japanese Institute for Global Environmental Strategies and collaborate with the other RCCs in Togo, Uganda, Grenada, and Colombia. At present, there are approximately 7,000 CDM projects in the Asia-Pacific region, more than half of which are located in China. The new center aims to source funding for roughly 300 projects a year, with a focus on countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

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