Will the environmental integrity of international carbon markets be written off as a loss at COP25? NGOs are concerned about this given the limited progress made so far, but they are counting on the ministerial segment of the conference, which began on Tuesday 10 December, to work twice as hard to reach an agreement that respects the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
Carbon Market Watch was alarmed on Tuesday that Article 6 of the Paris Agreement – which will set the rules for future global carbon markets – effectively contains all the contentious and potentially harmful options for the Paris Agreement.
“After a week of talks, old credits and double counting still pose a direct threat to the Paris Agreement. This makes a mockery of the slogan of these talks by saying that it is time to act”, the NGO said.
The Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Commission have been mandated to negotiate robust rules, on behalf of the EU, to avoid double counting of emission reductions and any transfer of unused Kyoto Protocol credits for use under the Paris Agreement after 2020 (see EUROPE 12342/1).
“We need our leaders to deliver a vision at COP25 that responds to the climate emergency. But if they are unable to agree on strong carbon market rules that benefit people and the planet, they should keep negotiating. No outcome from Madrid on carbon markets is better than locking in bad rules”, says Sam van den Plas, from this NGO.
On this point, the negotiations are opposed by the EU, Mexico, Switzerland, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and LDCs on the one hand, and China, Brazil and India (together holding 60% of existing credits under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism [CDM]) and Australia on the other. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)