COP29: Agreement reached on global carbon credit trading
- 26 November, 08:30
Countries participating in COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan have reached an agreement regarding regulations for a global market to trade carbon credits.
The agreement is believed to generate billions of dollars for new initiatives aimed at combating climate change. The deal, finalized on Saturday, about ten years after international discussions on establishing the market began, focused on ensuring the system's credibility to effectively contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.
Carbon credits are generated by initiatives like tree planting or establishing wind farms in developing countries, where each project earns a credit for every metric ton of emissions it reduces or captures from the atmosphere. Nations and businesses can purchase these credits to help achieve their climate objectives.
Following an early agreement at the two-week conference that will enable a centralized U.N. trading system to begin as early as next year, negotiators dedicated the remainder of their time in Azerbaijan to finalizing the specifics of a distinct bilateral system that allows countries to trade directly.
It should be noted that the key goal at COP 29 this year was agreeing on establishing a new climate finance fund for developing nations. Labelled as “finance COP”, the climate summit this year was focused on getting more cash to developing countries to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the growing impacts of climate change. COP29 brought together 32,000 participants from around 200 countries.The summit was held in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku between November 11 and 22.
