The road ahead for UN carbon markets

Carbon Market Watch outlines critical issues facing the development of the Paris Agreement rulebook, specifically regarding carbon markets. The author emphasizes the need to prevent double counting between the UNFCCC and CORSIA, ensure additionality by requiring reductions to exceed national pledges, and protect indigenous rights through mandatory consultations. Furthermore, it warns against the trading of 'hot air' under cooperative approaches and advocates for the Sustainable Development Mechanism to function as a results-based finance scheme rather than an offsetting tool.

• To prevent double counting of emission reductions, particularly between the UNFCCC and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) starting in 2021, the document suggests creating an international registry under the Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM) (Article 6.4) to track credits.
• To ensure additionality in a landscape where all countries have targets, credits should only be granted for emission reductions that exceed the ambition of national pledges.
• Article 6 mechanisms must include mandatory rules to protect local stakeholders and indigenous people, specifically requiring clear steps for consultations and a transparent grievance process.
• The 'cooperative approaches' mechanism under Article 6.2 risks the trade of 'hot air'—credits based on unambitious targets that do not represent real reductions—which should be prohibited, especially within CORSIA.
• The author argues that the Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM) should be designed as a results-based climate finance scheme instead of an offsetting mechanism to ensure emissions are reduced rather than displaced and to help developed countries meet finance pledges to developing countries.

APA

Dufrasne, G. (2018). The road ahead for UN carbon markets. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/05/16/the-road-ahead-for-un-carbon-markets/

Chicago

Dufrasne, Gilles. The road ahead for UN carbon markets. Carbon Market Watch, 2018. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/05/16/the-road-ahead-for-un-carbon-markets/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Dufrasne |first1=Gilles |title=The road ahead for UN carbon markets |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=16 May 2018 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/05/16/the-road-ahead-for-un-carbon-markets/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{dufrasne2018road, author = {Dufrasne, Gilles}, title = {{The road ahead for UN carbon markets}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2018}, month = may, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/05/16/the-road-ahead-for-un-carbon-markets/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }