Italy, Spain, Hungary, and Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) may well be off-target (and Poland hasn’t published one yet). By not covering in sufficient detail all aspects of the green transition in their plans, these member states could be missing out on the chance to use EU recovery funds to tackle the economic…
Two key elements to get right in the EU carbon market review The upcoming revision of the EU carbon market rules is an opportunity to ensure that industries covered by it cut their pollution in line with the EU Green Deal objectives and the Paris Climate Agreement. Agreeing on a faster pace at which emissions…
Carbon market stakeholders are slowly moving beyond the zero-sum game of offsetting towards alternative ways of financing climate action. This positive development will make the existing market more robust, helping to shield it from reputational risks and environmental integrity scandals. Offsetting – paying someone else to reduce emissions instead of reducing one’s own – has…
A reminder of the tricky issues of agreement on global carbon market rules in the context of ratcheting up climate ambition Raising ambition is the primordial task for governments ahead of and at the next UN climate conference. But it will also be essential to finally agree on the rules that will govern global carbon…
Relying on paying someone else to reduce emissions is risky and unsustainable. Therefore, private companies should stop “offsetting” and instead financially help poorer countries reach their climate targets and foster sustainable development. Voluntary carbon markets are booming as businesses across the world make climate-neutrality pledges. These plans often rely on the purchase of credits from…
When I began to think about a suitable article to pen as my last contribution to this newsletter, the obvious choice was low carbon agriculture. This is of personal interest to me as I switch my focus to sustainable agriculture at my organic farm just outside Salzburg, Austria. We are in the process of transforming…
It’s been dubbed a first of its kind – a new offset deal between Switzerland and Peru under the Paris Agreement. But how ground-breaking is this deal? And has there been any real change from the old offset efforts under the Kyoto Protocol of the past? Because of the postponement of COP26 in Glasgow, rules…
Dear members, friends & colleagues, Welcome to the 4th quarter 2020 edition of the Watch This, a civil society newsletter by Carbon Market Watch. In this edition we look at the damage caused to forest offset projects in California by the recent wildfires and question the validity of these carbon sinks that have quite literally gone up…
As the global efforts to cut CO2 pollution from ships hit the wall, regions and countries must step up. In Europe, work to bring the sector under the bloc’s carbon market is ongoing, but slowing down. Earlier this month, the UN shipping agency International Maritime Organisation (IMO) approved a draft plan to cut CO2 pollution…
We joined the World Press Clubs Alliance for Climate launch event on Friday 23 October. Watch the interview with Sabine Frank here. Companies and governments are announcing “climate-neutrality” targets, and consumers are being offered ways to offset their carbon footprint. What does this mean in practice? How can we distinguish between real climate action and…
Kaisa Amaral, Communications Director
Office: +32 2 335 36 64
Mobile: +32 485 07 6890
Carbon pricing 
International transport 
Climate governance 
Fair climate action