site.btaCOP29 Makes Progress in Development of Global Carbon Market

Two decisions related to the functioning of carbon markets were adopted at the final plenary of COP29 in Baku. It convened at 8 pm on Saturday, almost 24 hours after the formal conclusion of the UN climate conference programme.

Time is not on our side, said COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev at the opening of the meeting. He asked the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to continue negotiating with each other to overcome differences.

The two documents on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement voted in plenary are technical and, together with those adopted at the start of the climate conference, form the basis of a carbon market agreement paving the way for bilateral trade and the creation of a regulated global market to achieve the Paris Agreement's goals. Further technical rules are due to be cleared in 2025, but the Baku decisions are a major step towards carbon trading. The vote on both decisions was greeted with applause.

Carbon credits are created through projects such as planting trees or generating energy from renewable sources that save a certain amount of emissions from being released into the atmosphere. One carbon credit is equal to offsetting one ton of carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide equivalent. Countries and companies can buy these credits to offset the emissions emitted by their activities and thereby meet their climate targets. 

The other decisions approved in the meeting, which lasted about an hour and a half, were protocol, procedural and related to the approval of reports on the implementation of previously made commitments. Several decisions were deferred to COP30 in Brazil and to November 2026.

"After the difficult experience that we're having here in Baku, we need to reach some result, some outcome which is minimally acceptable in line with the emergency we are facing", said Brazilian Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva. "We are the frontline that will save humanity from much suffering and will guarantee life on the planet", she added. Silva said the next UN climate conference in Belem, Brazil, will be "the COP of all COPs so far." She added that countries should go to Belem with new national climate plans consistent with the goal of holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times because "we have no time to lose."

The COP29 plenary will continue, but no announcement was made at the adjournment as to when the meeting will take place.