UN climate summit

Agreement on standards for emissions trading

The conference venue in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan

(Bild: APA/AFP/Alexander NEMENOV)

The participating countries at the 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) can already boast a success after the first day of the conference: Agreement has been reached on uniform standards for global emissions trading.

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev spoke of a "breakthrough". However, he explained that further efforts were still required to regulate emissions trading. In this trade, countries and companies can acquire so-called credits for climate protection projects - such as planting trees, protecting habitats or replacing environmentally harmful coal with clean alternatives. One credit corresponds to one tonne of carbon dioxide saved.

Since the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, the United Nations had been working on rules that would allow countries and companies to exchange credits with each other on a transparent and global market. An earlier attempt to regulate the carbon markets as part of the Paris Agreement was rejected by the EU and developing countries at COP28 in Dubai last year as too lax. 

So far outside any international rules
According to Erika Lennon from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Monday's agreement is "hugely significant". It opens the door to a market geared towards trading high-quality carbon credits to UN standards, she said. So far, this market has developed outside of any international rules and has mainly been used by companies wanting to claim carbon neutrality by trading carbon credits. 

Around 51,000 people are taking part in the World Climate Conference this year, significantly fewer than last year in Dubai. The negotiations are due to end on Friday next week, but an extension as in previous years would come as no surprise. Austria will be represented this year by Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler, the Greens' energy and climate protection spokesperson Lukas Hammer and Green MEP Lena Schilling.