UK negotiator: Countries must resolve carbon market dispute to step up ambition

(Climate Home News, 29 Oct 2020) Countries have a collective responsibility to agree on common rules for a global carbon market, to drive greater climate ambition beyond 2021, according to the UK’s lead climate negotiator.

Under the Paris Agreement, countries have agreed to create a new carbon trading system to cut emissions at lower cost. But designing a common set of rules has proved contentious in recent rounds of climate talks and remains one of the last unresolved issues of the Paris Agreement rulebook.

Australia and Brazil have continued to push for a trading system with loopholes that would allow initial double counting of emissions reductions and trading of Kyoto-era credits — red lines for many other countries.

After failing to land a compromise at the last UN climate talks in Madrid, Spain, last year, negotiators are under pressure to resolve the issue at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, UK, in November 2021.

Although no climate talks are being held this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats are hoping to drive progress on the issue during informal consultations next month as part of a UN Climate Change catch-up plan.

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Climate Home News, 29 Oct 2020: UK negotiator: Countries must resolve carbon market dispute to step up ambition