In the aftermath of the Durban conference analysts have been turning their attention to the continued role of Kyoto Protocol emissions credits in the EU ETS. To date this trading mechanism has provided the biggest market for Kyoto credits, but the position is set to change drastically from 2013 onwards due to significant restrictions on [...]

The outcome of the UN conference in Durban has been more positive than initially indicated by the complexity of the negotiations. It is particularly laudable that a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol has been secured. This result translates into a continued existence of the international emissions trading mechanism. [...]

Durban finished with the now commonplace but contradictory sense of achievement and disappointment. Achievement that something has been agreed, disappointment that because expectations are so low, any agreement seems like an achievement. REDD+, however, has finished COP17 with a less pessimistic sentiment [...]

The world’s largest carbon offset instrument made wholesome, if not stunning or substantive, progress at Durban’s 17th Conference of the Parties. While Canada still faces considerable backlash from the hype surrounding its potential exit from 1997’s Kyoto Protocol [...]

The fate of the Clean Development Mechanism, the most robust and successful United Nations’ instrument to fight climate change, hangs in the balance at the 17th Conference of the Parties. It risks being used as a negotiating ‘chip’ in the penultimate COP before the Kyoto Protocol’s (KP’s) first commitment period ends. A leading climate change NGO explained that the KP is expected to ‘emerge alive from the conference, but it will be on life support.” [...]

As the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC kicks off in Durban this week, negotiators hope to build upon progress made during 2011 to govern the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) more effectively. Coupled with the positive sentiment that has been seeping from recent negotiations en route to Durban via largely pre-negotiated texts, progress is expected but expectations remain low [...]

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) credits have been receiving plenty of bad press, with the latest being reports of human rights abuses committed in Honduras over the ownership of credit-producing land. This is particularly serious as the CDM has been set up to feed into the EU ETS, which means that CDM credits find their way [...]

New Zealand’s Conservative government has released its first annual report on its New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), and the general assessment is that it is working well. In the report, released August 1st, climate minister Nick Smith implied that he was pleased with how smoothly the scheme is progressing in achieving its twin [...]

As the number of public sector financial mechanisms targeting REDD+ has increased, and consequently the volume of money flowing in to REDD+, observers are increasingly pointing out that the public sector alone cannot supply the huge sums of money needed to combat deforestation. The private sector is thus needed to share the cost and supply [...]

The carbon markets have had a troubled few weeks. While the price of the world’s most popular and valuable carbon product, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme allowance, shed some 22% in one week, the Australian government has finally announced a potential path for the country to join the small group of emissions trading nations. At the [...]