This article aims to present the obstacles to making the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) effective from the experience of a Brazilian company which transforms urban solid waste into electricity. CDM, which originated from Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change, placed Brazil in a leading position. However, although the importance of the CDM has been internationally recognized, it has faced difficulties to make it effective. This has led the research community to suppose that the obstacles to its internalization may arise not only from its instrumental, technological and operational effectiveness found in the literature, but also due to the political and institutional constraints prevailing in the countries to reduce their emissions. To explore this, qualitative research was carried out, making a descriptive analysis from the literaturel, documents and field work involving keyparticipants in interviews, observation and visits to the company. The results of the research reveal the complex dynamics in the application of CDM and suggests the need to debate its effective contribution to sustainable development and suggest a deepening of the theoretical framework of the institutional approach and their connections with other theoretical approaches which are involved in the issue of power in public-private dimensions and global-local spheres.
Clean development mechanism; Inter-institutional articulation; Discourse analysis; Sustainable development