Washington adopted a cap-and-trade law in May.
In the U.S., states are joining regional compliance regimes or launching their own. Regulated schemes known as compliance markets operate in China, Europe and other major economies. “To be truly successful in meeting Paris goals, progress has got to be made on Article 6,” said Sonja Gibbs, head of sustainable finance at the Institute of International Finance, an industry group working to scale the offsets market to meet exploding demand from greenhouse gas emitters.Ĭarbon trading - the practice of buying or selling the right to release emissions - already is big business. In practice, it would encourage a system of carbon trading that could move polluting countries along the path of compliance. Article 6, an unfinished provision of the Paris Agreement, allows countries to cooperate to meet their targets. You’ll be hearing a lot about killing fossil fuels and reining in global warming.īut behind the headlines is a wonky discussion that could make or break the integrity of national pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Solar panels in India | Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images
