'UAE Consensus' at COP28 appeases most, upsets few
A modified phrase in the Global Stocktake Text was enough to get all 200 signatories of the Paris Agreement on board to wrap up negotiations at COP28 in Dubai.
COP28 was never going to deliver a perfect outcome for everyone. Among the disappointed are the nations in the Alliance of Small Island States, which were pushing for tougher language on the phase out of fossil fuels; and carbon market participants.
The latter were expecting clarity on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement which sets out rules for international trade in emissions reductions, and in particular Article 6.4, which allows a company in one country to create credits from emissions reductions that can be traded with a company in another country.
This would have effectively created a globalised carbon market, which participants claim would massively stimulate demand for carbon credits and minimise the risk of price crashes.
It was also hoped that further clarity on Article 6.4 would boost the credibility of voluntary carbon markets, which have suffered a reputational hit in recent years, not least in Australia when leading environmental law scholar Andrew Macintosh declared that 80% of the units in the domestic scheme were “largely a sham”.
