NEW DELHI: On a positive note, COP29 on Sunday finalised rules for a global carbon market to buy and sell carbon credits, earned through green initiatives, and decided to launch a centralised UN trading system from next year. The issue was pending for almost a decade.
The rules under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement would ensure credibility and standardisation of carbon credits. Companies and countries can buy those credits if they are earned through credible initiatives, including even by planting trees under a standardised monitoring system. More details will be worked out on how to maintain the registry and ensure to keep greenwashing away from the system.
“Today, we have unlocked one of the most complex and technical challenges in climate diplomacy. Article 6 is hard to understand, but its impacts will be clear in our everyday lives. It means coal plants decommissioned, wind farms built, and forests planted. It means a new wave of investment in the developing world," said COP29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev.
Article 6 provides trusted and transparent carbon markets for countries as they collaborate to reach their climate goals. "This cross-border cooperation is expected to reduce the cost of implementing countries’ national climate plans (NDCs) by up to $250 billion per year," said the COP29 presidency in a statement.
It is expected that the decisions, unanimously adopted, will play a pivotal role in ensuring environmental integrity, transparency, and robustness of carbon markets through real, additional, verified, and measurable emission reductions and removals, while also unleashing their enormous potential to drive global climate investment.
"The guidelines and rules adopted are designed to ensure that carbon projects maintain practicality and inclusivity, respect human rights, and provide support to sustainable development, enabling countries and project developers to cooperate under the Paris Agreement with confidence," said the presidency.
Vishwa Mohan is Senior Editor at The Times of India. He writes on...
Read MoreVishwa Mohan is Senior Editor at The Times of India. He writes on environment, climate change, agriculture, water resources and clean energy, tracking policy issues and climate diplomacy. He has been covering Parliament since 2003 to see how politics shaped up domestic policy and India’s position at global platform. Before switching over to explore sustainable development issues, Vishwa had covered internal security and investigative agencies for more than a decade.
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