|
|
Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest news and information from publics.bg
News
World news
26.03.2010 09:12
There is a need for renewed debate on creating a worldwide emission-offsetting mechanism under a new climate treaty, but the EU will proceed with caution without prescribing solutions for other countries, the EU's top climate official said on the 24th of March, said from Euractiv.com
Speaking at a conference in Brussels, Jos Delbeke, director-general of the European Commission's new climate action department, said that despite difficulties in different parts of the world in setting up cap-and trade systems, the EU is still confident that it is possible to put a linked-up OECD-wide carbon market in place by 2015.
To further this goal, the EU is now working with other nations to create a common international offsetting mechanism, he added.
Such a system will allow industrialised countries to count emissions reductions financed in developing countries towards their own commitments, as is currently the case with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the UN process.
"If we had a common offsetting mechanism, we would be linked de facto already, and I think this is one of the strategic reasons why we are looking into other offsetting schemes," Delbeke said. But he pointed out that the CDM is not very popular in the US, which is part of the reason the EU is promoting sectoral approaches to crediting.
Delia Villagrasa, senior advisor to the European Climate Foundation, believes the EU should play a key role as it already has an established emissions trading scheme (EU ETS; see EurActiv LinksDossier). She pointed to uncertainty as to whether the Australian government will get cap-and-trade legislation through the Senate and a lack of clarity over what form a potential Japanese system might take.
"It is also quite unclear how the American system will work with international offsets," she said, pointing out that the US share of the carbon market is currently "peanuts".
"The EU will very likely stay the key carbon market bloc in the world for a while to come. It will therefore also be the key bloc in defining how offsets should be structured," Villagrasa stressed.
According to the expert, this means the EU will have a chance to ensure that offset credits will serve the purpose of making additional emission cuts in developing countries by setting out quality criteria for the CDM and moving towards more sectoral trading.
More on this topic @http://bit.ly/dq6j5M
All world news
Interview 
Full text
Events 
