The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) today regretted the lack of progress on the effective regulation of the carbon market, following the 60th session of the subsidiary bodies of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“At a time when interest in carbon markets in Africa continues to grow, the 60th session of the subsidiary bodies (SB60) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) failed to reach an agreement on all technical aspects related to the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement,” reads a statement sent to Lusa, following the meeting that took place earlier this month.
This lack of agreement shows “the complex challenges of emissions trading” and, they add, shows that “the methodological elements of the new UN carbon credit mechanism remain unresolved”.
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on limiting the growth of polluting emissions refers to how countries can voluntarily cooperate in implementing nationally determined contributions to climate action, while promoting sustainable development and environmental integrity, recalls UNECA, stressing that the negotiations at the meeting focused on the technical aspects of international carbon trading, particularly the authorisation and reporting of transactions, as well as the importance of an international registry of these transactions.
At last year’s United Nations Environment Summit (COP28) in Dubai, the then executive secretary of UNECA said that the African continent could earn up to 82 billion dollars annually if it participated in an effectively functioning international carbon market.
“African countries could mobilise up to 82 billion dollars [76 billion euros] annually if they participated in functioning carbon markets,” said then UNECA Deputy Executive Secretary António Pedro in a speech during COP28.
“Our renewable and non-renewable resources must be harnessed to guarantee the continent’s human, energy, food, mineral and environmental security, fulfilling basic needs and favouring structural transformation,” added António Pedro, defending the advantages of African countries joining and participating in the international carbon market as a source of development finance.
The carbon market is an international mechanism that allows the most polluting countries or companies to exceed the targets agreed in the Kyoto Agreement, by buying a licence issued by countries that pollute less than the limit they have committed to under that agreement or that are launching projects that can offset the emissions made in another country.
Thus, a country or company that wants to produce harmful greenhouse gases above its limit can use the surplus from another country that doesn’t plan to use all of its share or that launches projects that offset the emissions of another country or company.
Due to the lack of industrial development in Africa and its vast natural resources, the continent is seen as a good choice for buying carbon credits, as is already the case in Mozambique.
The more sceptical, however, point out that this carbon offset market is inefficient, often poorly regulated and only serves as a distraction from the fact that the commitment made in 2009 by the industrialised countries of the northern hemisphere to mobilise 100 billion dollars (93.5 billion euros) a year for climate finance has never been fulfilled.
Lusa
