Madrid climate negotiators seek to break deadlock on role of carbon markets
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 01, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 01, 2022
Madrid climate negotiators seek to break deadlock on role of carbon markets

Climate Change

Reuters
11 December, 2019, 11:20 am
Last modified: 11 December, 2019, 01:42 pm

Related News

  • US Supreme Court limits federal power to curb carbon emissions
  • Youths sue European governments over fossil fuel energy pact
  • Australia raises emissions cutting target for 2030
  • G7 can spearhead climate fight by agreeing to phase out coal: Germany
  • Climate change boosted odds of recent deadly heat in India, Pakistan

Madrid climate negotiators seek to break deadlock on role of carbon markets

The focus in Madrid is on article 6 of the Paris Agreement which creates rules addressing the stringency of carbon markets and creating a new global carbon offsetting mechanism

Reuters
11 December, 2019, 11:20 am
Last modified: 11 December, 2019, 01:42 pm
Activists hold a banner during a protest against climate change as the COP25 climate summit is held in Madrid, Spain December 9, 2019/ Reuters
Activists hold a banner during a protest against climate change as the COP25 climate summit is held in Madrid, Spain December 9, 2019/ Reuters

Negotiations on how carbon markets can be used by countries to meet their global warming goals under the Paris accord go down to the wire this week as United Nations climate talks enter their final days in Madrid.

Technical experts worked past midnight on Monday, but left some of the thorniest issues for environment ministers and senior officials – who have arrived in Madrid for the high-level section of the talks on Tuesday.

Carbon markets are seen by some as an opportunity to lower the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling countries to commit to more ambitious targets. Others see them as a way to stall more aggressive action to combat emissions.

The focus in Madrid is on article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which creates rules addressing the stringency of carbon markets and creating a new global carbon offsetting mechanism.

Carbon offsetting involves helping to fund a cut in emissions elsewhere, such as through preventing deforestation.

"Article 6 is the only part of the Paris Agreement that directly engages with the private sector, helping them contribute to climate action," said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as she appealed to negotiators to seek ways to break the deadlock.

Ministers from New Zealand and South Africa are leading efforts to find consensus around issues like what to do with old offsets generated under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism and how to account for carbon credits between countries with single year and multi-year emission targets.

"All of the provisions regarding environmental integrity (of carbon markets) have not been resolved," said Kelly Kizzier, vice president for international climate at the Environmental Defence Fund.

Double Counting

One of Europe's main concerns is how any emission reductions made under carbon markets would be accounted for.

European officials want to ensure there is no double-counting, whereby the emission reduction is counted both by the country that has bought the credit and the country where the actual emission reduction has taken place

"We cannot afford to count emission reductions under global carbon markets twice," said Sam Van den plas, policy director at NGO Carbon Market Watch at a side event in Madrid. "Cheating the climate system does not get us anywhere."

The United States, which is still participating in negotiations despite officially starting the one-year process to withdraw from the Paris agreement, said it is working to ensure American companies involved in carbon markets have clear, transparent rules.

"On article 6 we are working on a set of rules that create a level playing field for U.S. businesses working around the world," a U.S. official said.

Negotiators are also at odds over what to do with billions of carbon credits already generated under the CDM, called CERs, designed to help countries meet commitments under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Chairman Mohamed Nasr of the African Group of Negotiators, which represents all 54 countries on the continent, said there should be compromise so some but not all Kyoto-era credits are honoured.

"I think there is a willingness to compromise but the difference is of course there are four countries that have a lot of CERs in their accounts ... they don't want to lose that value," he said.

Brazil, South Korea, China and India account for almost 85% of all CERs issued to date.

GRAPHIC: Certified Emission Redutions issued to date

But other countries argue allowing these credits to be carried over would potentially flood the market with credits for past accomplishments and not advance future emissions reductions under the Paris accord.

Van den plas said almost 19 billion permits had been created under the various Kyoto systems including the CDM. "This is the equivalent of running 700 coal plants for 10 years permanently. So, it's a huge threat," he said.

Environmental and indigenous groups are also raising concerns about whether article 6 will address human and indigenous and human rights, and whether strong enough safeguards are put in place.

Environment / Top News

Carbon emission / COP25 / Climate crisis / climate emergency

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • BB bids farewell to easy money policy to tame inflation
    BB bids farewell to easy money policy to tame inflation
  • Economist Zahid Hussain. Illustration: TBS
    Typical monetary steps cannot tame inflation
  • Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    It won’t be able to rein in inflation

MOST VIEWED

  • Houses turned into little islands. Photo: Muhammad Amdad Hussain
    Time to reassess our disaster management capabilities
  • FILE PHOTO: The United Nations logo is seen on a window in an empty hallway at United Nations headquarters during the 75th annual U.N. General Assembly high-level debate, which is being held mostly virtually due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in New York, U.S., September 21, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
    Global biodiversity talks to move from China's Kunming to Montreal
  • European envoy visits renewable energy projects of IDCOL
    European envoy visits renewable energy projects of IDCOL
  • FILE PHOTO: Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe's biggest electricity and gas companies in Niederaussem, Germany, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo
    G7 can spearhead climate fight by agreeing to phase out coal: Germany
  • A delegate takes a picture of a chart showing sea ice coverage during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 11, 2021. REUTERS
    Global energy and funding shocks test climate commitments
  • A man refreshes as he enjoys the day by the shore of the Rio de la Plata river during a heat wave amid a spike of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, in Buenos Aires, Argentina January 9, 2022. Photo :Reuters
    Climate change boosted odds of recent deadly heat in India, Pakistan

Related News

  • US Supreme Court limits federal power to curb carbon emissions
  • Youths sue European governments over fossil fuel energy pact
  • Australia raises emissions cutting target for 2030
  • G7 can spearhead climate fight by agreeing to phase out coal: Germany
  • Climate change boosted odds of recent deadly heat in India, Pakistan

Features

Bangladesh ranks among the top ten countries whose citizens have sought asylum in Cyprus. Photo: Arafatul Islam/DW

How Bangladeshi migrants end up in Cyprus

19h | Panorama
Dr M Mushtuq Husain. Sketch: TBS

'We did not face an extreme crisis with Omicron. But this wave is spreading faster'

22h | Panorama
Luxury Houseboat owners  distributed food, provided medical assistance, and shelter to the flood victims, till the flood waters receded Photo: Masum Billah

The first responders: How luxury houseboats became rescue centres for flood victims

23h | Panorama
Mahathir accused financial titans of seeking to reverse decades of economic development that propelled tens of millions into the middle class. Photo: Bloomberg

George Soros, Mahathir and the legacy of 1997

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Shuttle train at CU: More than a mere transport

Shuttle train at CU: More than a mere transport

10h | Videos
Dhaka ranks as costliest city again in South Asia for expatriates

Dhaka ranks as costliest city again in South Asia for expatriates

11h | Videos
Kremlin hints solution to Ukraine war

Kremlin hints solution to Ukraine war

13h | Videos
Fever spread: Is it seasonal fever or Covid?

Fever spread: Is it seasonal fever or Covid?

13h | Videos

Most Read

1
Padma Bridge from satellite. Photo: Screengrab
Bangladesh

Padma Bridge from satellite 

2
Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'
Splash

Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'

3
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Motorcycles banned on Padma Bridge 

4
Photo: Collected
Economy

Tech startup ShopUp bags $65m in Series B4 funding

5
Photo: Courtesy
Corporates

Gree AC being used in all parts of Padma Bridge project

6
World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years
Economy

World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
Workers unload sacks of paddy at the BOC Ghat paddy market on the bank of the Meghna River in Brahmanbaria’s Ashuganj, the largest paddy market in the eastern part of the country. This century-old market sells paddies worth Tk5-6 crore a day during the peak season. PHOTO: RAJIB DHAR

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net