The champions of Article 6 carbon markets used the opportunity of the Bonn climate conference to push, ahead of COP31, for a “learning by doing” approach. This happy-go-lucky attitude would spell double trouble for the climate and society. Although the only carbon market item officially under negotiation in Bonn concerned the funding arrangements for Article …
The first two projects, both related to cookstoves, approved for use under the UN’s carbon market massively overestimate their climate impact, despite efforts to rein in overcrediting. In April of last year, Carbon Market Watch published an analysis demonstrating that the first Clean Development Mechanism project (known as Programme of Activities, or PoA, 10415) in …
Efforts to dilute Article 6 rules risk turning the new UN carbon market mechanism into a false climate solution that harms both nature and global climate action
Few climate instruments are as controversial as carbon credit markets: some see them a cost-efficient way to reduce or remove emissions globally and to help the Global South in the bargain, while others see a failure to deliver sufficient climate benefits, as well as inequitable, or even seriously negative, social consequences.
Instead of listening to its own technical experts and scientific evidence, the body overseeing the UN carbon crediting mechanism has chosen to side with market players after intense lobbying efforts.
Third-party auditors are meant to safeguard and underwrite the quality of carbon markets, yet the intrinsic conflict of interest with which they grapple undermines their role as independent verifiers. This was the conclusion of a new study.
A new Carbon Market Watch analysis, based on currently available project data, has uncovered that the first project transitioning from the CDM to the Article 6.4 market is poised to issue an astonishing 26 times more credits than it should as compared to the values from peer-reviewed scientific literature.
The apparent progress made on Article 6 carbon markets during week 1 of the COP29 climate conference conceal many problematic fundamental and technical issues that remain unresolved.
Many of the lofty announcements made at last year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai have yet translate into action weeks ahead of COP29 in Baku.
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