U.N. calls in contractors to help clear CDM backlog

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters Point Carbon) - The U.N. has called in more than 40 contractors and shifted internal resources to help it unclog a bottleneck of requests from companies seeking carbon credits, officials at the body's climate secretariat said on Tuesday.

As of August, the U.N. was taking an average of 30 days to start processing applications handed in by project developers seeking approval under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or requesting carbon credits, according to a report from the CDM's executive board.