The United Nations’ recent decision to move ahead with creating a new global carbon market could strengthen the established international carbon market that faces questions about whether it actually addresses climate change.
Nearly 200 nations at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan approved initial standards for a new U.N.-run carbon market that will let countries and businesses fund climate-focused projects such as preserving trees in South America or supplying clean stoves in Africa.
Businesses have funded such projects for years through a private carbon market that has been criticized for having weak standards, resulting in money going to projects that don’t actually reduce carbon emissions. Businesses fund the projects to offset their own emissions.
New standards that the U.N. will finalize next year could spur the private market to strengthen its own rules and restore confidence, experts said.
