As the annual UN climate conference, Cop29, draws to a close, negotiators, civil society observers and activists are staying up late, poring over draft texts that will determine how the international community addresses climate change for years to come. Central among their concerns this year: the turbulent world of carbon markets. This, in theory, will allow carbon removals, renewable energy units and greenhouse gas emissions reductions and avoidance to be bought and sold as “credits”.
Much of the negotiation that we’ve witnessed here in Baku has revolved around two particular paragraphs in article 6 of the Paris agreement. This body of text mandates the creation of market mechanisms meant to raise climate ambition but the UN has failed to implement this for nearly a decade. Now, nations are nearing agreement on how to navigate this contested section of the world’s most important climate agreement.
