In a world coping with climate setbacks and Donald Trump’s re-election in the United States, the growing prominence of international carbon markets may just be the good news we have been looking for. Canada should take notice.
More than a decade after the collapse of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, the most recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) global Conference of the Parties (COP29) meeting appears to have already seen important breakthroughs. This includes a decision on a new UN carbon offset mechanism under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, while finalization of rules for emissions trading continue.
Similarly, in North America, voters in the state of Washington rejected a ballot initiative on Nov. 5 that would have revoked the state’s climate mitigation efforts. This paves the way for the state’s planned linkage of its emissions trading system with that of California and Québec.
