The World Bank recently said that the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is “expensive and time consuming” because it requires project managers to follow new rules regarding emission reduction technologies, Bloomberg reports.

According to data on a UN Web site, of 3,788 projects that have applied for CDM emission credits, only 385 had received the allowances as of Aug. 1.

The Carbon Market and Investors Association recommends having a full-time staff to consider project issues more frequently because the current process takes three meeting and delays projects by about 4.5 months.

The CDM executive board has instructed the UNFCCC to finish completeness checks for credit issuance within 20 working days and to process completeness checks for requests for registration within 30 days of receiving a fee.

Earlier this year, U.N. regulators who administer the CDM questioned whether projects produce a real environmental benefit and raised concerns about some independent auditors of the projects.

Last summer, a CDM senior figure suggested there may be faults with up to 20 percent of the carbon credits already sold.