This brief report has been produced in response to an Evidence on Demand Helpdesk request. It has been produced in support of a proposed DFID project business case to increase the flow of international carbon finance to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) – with a focus on Africa – to support poor peoples' access to clean energy and other poverty reducing technologies.

The report provides information on the ongoing efforts to reform the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) so that more projects reach poor people and communities in least developed countries, including donor initiatives. The key areas of recent reforms identified in addition to those already considered by DFID are: (a) Adoption of a new approach for demonstrating additionality; (b) Adoption of Suppressed Demand guidelines; (c) Adoption for default values of non-renewable biomass (NRB); and (d) Launch of CDM Help Desks.