er and stake, it was with great optimism, open dismay or silent resignation that supporters of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) saw climate negotiators convene in Poland in December 2008. They had hoped for representatives of the Kyoto Parties to bring momentum to the discussions of recent years of how to strengthen the CDM, one of the three flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol (KP). While the continuous growth of the instrument does not exactly point to a mechanism in crisis, the CDM is at a critical stage. The number of cr