LONDON/MADRID — Negotiations on how carbon markets can be used by countries to meet their global warming goals under the Paris accord go down to the wire this week as United Nations climate talks enter their final days in Madrid. Technical experts worked past midnight on Monday, but left some of the thorniest issues for environment ministers and senior officials – who have arrived in Madrid for the high-level section of the talks on Tuesday. Carbon markets are seen by some as an opportunity to lower the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling countries to commit to more ambitious targets. Others see them as a way to stall more aggressive action to combat emissions. The focus in Madrid is on article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which creates rules addressing the stringency of carbon markets and creating a new global carbon offsetting mechanism.

Source: International New York Times December 10, 2019 20:37 UTC