Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Explainer: How bickering over a carbon trading system led to the failure of international climate talks

On Sunday (Dec 15), an international meeting to push through bolder measures to tackle climate change fell through, after countries were unable to come to an agreement on the details.

Young climate activists shout on stage at an event on climate emergency during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain on Dec 11, 2019.

Young climate activists shout on stage at an event on climate emergency during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain on Dec 11, 2019.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

On Sunday (Dec 15), an international meeting to push through bolder measures to tackle climate change fell through, after countries were unable to come to an agreement on the details.

The 2019 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, also known as COP25, was held in the Spanish capital of Madrid, and had brought together close to 200 countries over a span of two weeks to sort through the details of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change signed in 2016.

Despite running for two days longer than initially expected, making it the longest-running climate change conference in the UN’s history, little was achieved beyond broad statements calling for countries to do more to fight climate change by next year.

TODAY looks at what the COP25 was supposed to achieve, why it was so pressing to achieve these targets and what were the sticking points at the conference.

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THIS YEAR’S MEETING?

While the conference is being held for the 25th time, this year’s meeting was urgent since reports showed that governments around the world were still some way off from achieving the targets set by the Paris Agreement.

The agreement limits the rise in global temperatures to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and 1.5°C at best. Anything beyond could result in some of the worst effects of climate change, including the disappearance of most coral reefs and massive refugee flows as a result of rising sea levels.

However, scientists have warned that global temperatures are on course to rise by 3°C or higher by the end of this century.

This year’s meeting also comes on the back of a year of greater public pressure worldwide for governments and corporations to tackle climate change.

Strikes led by youth activist Greta Thunberg have been held to push policymakers to take action quickly. Protestors at the conference this year placed nooses around their own necks and stood on blocks of ice in a symbolic demonstration of the slow response to climate change.

WHAT WERE THE STICKING POINTS?

A large part of the disagreement among nations at this year’s conference was over how to establish an international carbon market which would allow countries to trade on emission reductions.

The rules governing the set-up of this international carbon market is also known as “Article Six”, as it falls under the sixth section of the Paris Climate Agreement.

The market is supposed to have a system that would allow countries to pay each other for projects that reduce emissions.

For example, countries with low emissions may sell their “leftover” allowance to larger emitters, with an overall cap of greenhouse gases, ensuring their net reduction. Such a system would set a foundation for a global price on carbon.

However, some countries, such as Brazil, China and India, want to carry over carbon credits from an old trading system established under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Under the old trading system called the Clean Development Mechanism, developing nations could receive credits for supporting sustainable development initiatives.

By bringing over these old credits to the new system, countries would be able to use these credits to meet their emission reduction goals. However, as credits from the old system represent cuts made before 2020, they will not be representative of emission cuts made after the agreement comes into force.

The other sticking point at the conference revolved around a tentative agreement made in 2013 for richer countries to help developing countries, which are more vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, by footing the bill to minimise losses and damages from disasters related to climate change. 

This would also include having developed countries provide finance and technology to help developing countries cope with changes to climate change.

However, the members were unable to come to a decision on what kind of disasters — be they hurricanes or floods — can be attributed to climate change.

The United States, for instance, was called out for trying to water down provisions to compensate poorer countries for damages incurred from disasters related to climate change.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Negotiations will now continue at the next conference which will be held in November next year at Glasgow in the United Kingdom.

The next conference will mark the full adoption of the Paris Agreement. By then, countries are expected to put forward their plans for emission cuts, called Nationally Determined Contributions, to meet the goals of the agreement.

However, with the US set to officially pull out from the Paris Agreement after this year and with other countries unable to come to an agreement on how to reach the targets set in the agreement, it is unclear how the meeting will pan out. 

Related topics

climate change conference COP25 Madrid Paris Agreement environment climate activist

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.