3 October - The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) applauds the announcement by Canada’s Prime Minister that individual provinces will be able to decide how best to meet established national targets to reduce carbon emissions, whether that is achieved through a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade regime. The course the federal government has chosen is clear recognition of the hard work that has been undertaken to date in those provinces with carbon pricing.

For Canada to reach the emissions reduction goals it has committed to under the international Paris Agreement, clear and consistent political direction is vital. The provinces of Ontario and Quebec have provided that political resolve by legislating a cap on emissions and implementing a market-based system designed to achieve emissions reductions in the most cost-effective manner possible. Today’s proposed decision assures continuity in these important markets, and it offers other provinces freedom to choose an approach that meets their unique circumstances.

The key metric in judging the effectiveness of any emissions reduction program is how well it delivers the environmental goals. Individual jurisdictions choosing the best path forward for their own circumstances makes good environmental sense.

The phase in of the pricing to start in 2018 allows those jurisdictions without carbon pricing to weigh the merits of adopting either a tax or a cap-and-trade system, and to make an informed choice. IETA looks forward to working with the provinces that have adopted a cap-and-trade system, and with all jurisdictions that have not yet determine how they will proceed.

“Cap and trade is favored by the majority of countries as a means of putting a price on carbon,” said Katie Sullivan, IETA’s Director of The Americas and Climate Finance.  “We have seen time and again the effectiveness of cap and trade in delivering real reductions at prices that both drive innovation and ensure that all cost effective measures are implemented by those industries covered by the system.”

Download the press release.

Panama, September 26  - The Latin American and Caribbean Carbon Forum (LACCF, 28 to 30 September) is set to kick off on Wednesday this week, bringing together for the tenth consecutive year key players from the private and public sectors to discuss ways to speed up the Nationally Determined Contributions, and reach out to cooperation agencies, potential investors and service providers.

The meeting follows last year’s historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change that embodies the commitment of countries around the world to move forward together to address climate change, and is taking place around six weeks ahead of the next major UN Climate Change in Marrakech in November.

Governments, businesses, civil society institutions and other stakeholders are focused on turning targets and plans into climate action, also with the help of key regional meetings.

The event in Panama will provide a platform for discussions and experience sharing on challenges and opportunities in line with the Paris Agreement such as:

• Implementing Nationally Determined Contributions
  
• Leveraging public and private finance for climate action
  
• Carbon pricing mechanisms and carbon markets
  
• Sustainable development and transformational change
  
• Public-private partnerships
  
• Innovative business models to fight climate change
  

The Forum will also feature the latest advances and resources on:

• Sustainable cities
  
• Agroindustry
  
• Energy
  
• Extractive industries
  
• Forests
  
• Transport
  

LACCF’s comprehensive and substantive program consists of plenaries, parallel thematic discussions and training sessions. The LACCF exhibition space is ideal to identify business opportunities and connect with supporting organizations, cooperation agencies, potential investors and service providers.

For the first time this year, the LACCF and the annual workshop of the Low Emission Development Strategies-LAC platform will be held back-to-back, becoming the largest climate event of the region: the 2016 Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week.

An opening press conference will take place at the forum at Wednesday September 28th between 10 and 10.45 a.m.

This annual Conference and Exhibition is jointly organised by the World Bank Group, the Latin American Energy Organisation (OLADE), the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the UNEP DTU Partnership, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and CAF, the Development Bank of Latin America.

The Forum will take place at Hotel Sortis in Panama City, Calle 56 Este, Panamá. For more information, see http://www.latincarbon.com/

Media contact:
Alessandro Vitelli
IETA communications
press@ieta.org
+44 7710 402060

Geneva, 15 September - ICROA, in cooperation with Imperial College London and the UNFCCC, has launched a global survey to investigate the drivers behind corporate engagement in voluntary carbon offsetting and climate change mitigation strategies. 

The survey aims to understand why corporate offsetters select particular kinds of carbon offsets, and which sectors of business and industry are most interested in offsetting to achieve their corporate social responsibility goals.

“A survey like this hasn’t been done for while,” said Niclas Svenningsen, Manager for Strategy & Relationship unit, UNFCCC. “It’s asking questions we all want to know the answers to. It should be of great value to anybody interested in understanding how voluntary offset use can benefit both the climate agenda and the sustainable development goals adopted last year”.

The partners also hope to understand what additional benefits offsetting provides, and whether demand is also driven by risk management concerns, such as the expectation that more widespread emissions reductions may be mandated at some time in the future.

Responses to the survey will be anonymous and will only be accessed by Imperial College London. 

Aggregated results will be incorporated in a final report which will be issued jointly by ICROA, the UNFCCC and Imperial College London. Publication is expected in Q1 2017.

Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, 7 September - Experience gained using markets in the Asia-Pacific region to combat climate change can help ensure success of the global climate change agreement adopted in Paris last December. This was the consensus of the 300 participants, from 60 countries, at this year’s Asia-Pacific Carbon Forum after three days of panel discussions, meetings and presentations.

• China has more than 10 years of experience with carbon markets, starting with emission reduction and development projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), establishment of voluntary emissions trading, seven emissions trading system (ETS) pilots and plans for a national ETS in 2017.
• The Republic of Korea has had an ETS since 2015, becoming the second country in Asia to introduce a nationwide cap-and-trade system, which now covers about 530 businesses.
• Japan is pursuing a number of market-based approaches to combat climate change, including a Joint Crediting Mechanism similar to the CDM, a system that awards offset credits to domestic entities that reduce emissions, a voluntary ETS and an ETS in the city of Tokyo.
• New Zealand has had an emissions trading system since 2008, designed to assist the country in meeting its international climate change obligations and reduce domestic emissions below business as usual. The system is currently being reviewed.
• Australia, after a few years of uncertainty and policy reversals, stabilised its climate policy suite around its Emission Reduction Fund and Safeguard Mechanism.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement provides for (1) transferring mitigation outcomes, essentially emissions trading; (2) a new Sustainable Development Mechanism; and (3) a framework for non-market approaches. All three of these economic instruments are described in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

“The Forum drew together a wealth of experience in using market incentives to cut carbon emissions, whether in innovative climate finance or carbon trading,” said Dirk Forrister, President and Chief Executive Officer, International Emissions Trading Association. “It is encouraging to learn how the new markets in Korea, China and the global aviation industry are shaping a future vision of international cooperation in protecting the climate.”

“It was extremely encouraging to see the commitment of APCF participants to harness the carbon markets in achieving development outcomes, and as a climate and development practitioner I join in the effort,” said Rakshya Thapa, Regional Technical Specialist, United Nations Development Programme. “I believe the carbon market is one of the most important instruments that can further the objectives of the Paris Agreement while simultaneously and coherently achieving Sustainable Development Goals.”

“The forum brought together the emission trading community – governments, financial institutions, investors, donors and businesses – discussing a range of topics, including carbon markets, national mitigation actions, aviation, domestic carbon pricing systems, such as those in operation in the Republic of Korea and in China, and in development in Thailand and other jurisdictions,” said Niclas Svenningsen, Manager, Stakeholder and Relationship Management Unit, Sustainable Development Mechanisms programme, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat. “The event was useful to shape up collaboration in the region in linking markets and to achieve our long-term climate and sustainability goals through market instruments, including UNFCCC instruments such as the clean development mechanism.”

APCF 2016 was organised by the Asian Development Bank, IETA, UNFCCC secretariat and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, in collaboration with Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). The organisers would like to express their appreciation to GGGI for their great partnership in helping deliver APCF 2016.

For more information on carbon markets in Asia-Pacific and elsewhere visit <https://ieta.wildapricot.org/The-Worlds-Carbon-Markets>.

LONDON, 26 July - IETA announces today the publication of its oral history of the carbon markets, titled From Kyoto to Paris: the Oral History of the Carbon Markets.

The book gathers together interviews from key participants in climate negotiations, including negotiators, government officials, project developers, traders and lawyers. It follows the evolution of carbon markets starting at Kyoto in 1997 and ending with the conclusion of the Paris Agreement last December.

Excerpts from interviews with participants have been published in seven video clips at www.ieta.org/kyototoparis.

The book focus on markets and the Kyoto Protocol, early experiments with emissions trading, the growth of the EU ETS, the CDM and carbon funds, and concludes with the momentous events in Paris last December when 196 nations agreed a new global climate treaty. 

Downloadable and hard copies of the book are available at www.amazon.com - search for "From Kyoto to Paris".  For a limited time, a Kindle version is available free of charge. 

LONDON, 6 July - The final chapter of IETA’s oral history of the carbon market, looking at the road to Paris and beyond, is released today.

The closing video chapter of From Kyoto to Paris, available online, focuses on the Paris Agreement and the outlook for carbon markets in the coming years – particularly in China.

“The future for carbon markets is truly exciting, with new initiatives emerging around the world – and this is set to increase as the Paris Agreement starts to be implemented,” says IETA President and CEO Dirk Forrister. “It’s been a rollercoaster 19 years since the Kyoto Protocol was agreed – we hope the lessons captured by From Kyoto to Paris stand us in good stead for the next 19.”

Previous chapters have focused on markets and the Kyoto Protocol, early experiments with emissions trading, the growth of the EU ETS, the CDM and carbon funds. All seven video chapters are available on our dedicated web page, www.ieta.org/kyototoparis. 

The book will shortly be available via Amazon; please email oralhistory@ieta.org to ensure you don’t miss out on this year’s essential summer reading!

IETA welcomes the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS) statement by the US, Canada and Mexico on energy and climate commitments.

We welcome in particular the reaffirmation of the countries’ intent to join the Paris Agreement this year, which will give a strong boost to early entry into force of the new climate deal.

The undertaking to implement the respective Nationally Determined Contributions is a key step towards achieving Paris’ goal of net zero emissions by the second half of the century.

IETA also welcomes the countries’ commitment to using carbon markets where applicable to help achieve those goals.

“Carbon markets have been shown to be the most efficient way to achieve carbon reductions at lowest cost, to generate investment in clean energy and to embed low-carbon strategy at corporate level,” said Katie Sullivan, head of North America at IETA.

IETA warmly applauds the leaders’ undertaking to support the development by the International Civil Aviation Organisation of a global market-based measure to combat emissions from aviation. In particular, we applaud their commitment to joining the first phase of the sector’s global offsetting mechanism.

“Cross-border commitments such as this will also provide support for deeper, broader and stronger international climate efforts,” Sullivan added.

The three countries have also agreed to tackle methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas, from the oil and gas sectors, by 40-45% by 2025, as well as achieve 50% non-emitting power generation with improvements to transmission links across North America.

Other elements of today’s North American, Clean Energy and Environment Partnership Action Plan include:

• Sharing lessons and best practices to improve carbon emissions accounting and to avoid double-counting of reductions;
  

• Encouraging subnational governments to share their experiences of carbon pricing;
  

• Supporting international partners with development assistance and financing to boost efforts to combat climate change;
  

• Promoting transparency in reporting and verification of emissions reductions; and
  
• Share best practices and technical solutions to improve effectiveness, including for land sector and carbon-market-related approaches.

For more information, see the Leaders' Statement from the Prime Minister of Canada's Office, or visit the Government of Canada's NALS website.

Contact: Katie Sullivan, sullivan@ieta.org

LONDON, 29 June - Chapter six of IETA’s oral history of the carbon market looks at how the Durban climate talks marked a sea change in the international negotiations and laid the path for the Paris Agreement.

Available online from today, this latest chapter of From Kyoto to Paris focuses on the significance of the outcome of the Durban talks and what were the key factors behind it.   

“After the bitter end to the Copenhagen talks in 2009, to have such a turn-around just two years later in Durban is truly remarkable, and a testament to the importance governments place on the international climate change negotiations,” says IETA President and CEO Dirk Forrister. “What happened in South Africa was a game-changer for the UN climate process and set the foundations for where we are today.”

The oral history project, From Kyoto to Paris, charts the path from the 1997 treaty to 2015 and the Paris Agreement. Comprised of both a series of videos and a book, it features interviews with key players in the market’s growth, including negotiators, government officials, project developers, traders and lawyers. 

Chapters previously released have looked at markets and the Kyoto Protocol, early experiments with emissions trading, the growth of the EU ETS and the CDM. The final chapter, released next week, will focus on the road to Paris and beyond. It will be available on our dedicated web page, www.ieta.org/kyototoparis. 

The book will soon be released via Amazon; please email oralhistory@ieta.org to ensure you don’t miss out on this year’s essential summer reading!