Bloomberg News - U.S., Japan, Germany Among 18 Nations to Build Carbon Markets

Eighteen nations including the U.S., Japan and Germany will work together to develop international carbon markets to help speed the pace of emission reductions under the Paris climate deal struck Saturday, according to the New Zealand government.

The nations will develop standards and guidelines to ensure trading of carbon credits has environmental integrity, according to a statement sent by Jonathan Franklin, spokesman for Tim Groser, New Zealand’s climate and trade minister.

Saturday’s deal by envoys from more than 190 countries gathered in Paris allows cooperation between nations to meet emission-limitation pledges. It also creates a new market to promote sustainable development, speeding carbon cuts by state entities and private companies. China plans to create the world’s biggest carbon market by 2017, about double the size of 10-year old European program, currently the largest. China and India aren’t part of the 18-nation group.

The standards will encourage other countries to support markets to “complement the Paris Agreement and with the ultimate aim of strengthening action under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,” the 18 countries said. “Through this declaration we want to send a clear signal to the global carbon market and provide certainty that there is an important role for markets in the post-2020 period.”

The countries are Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Ukraine, and the U.S.

by Mathew Carr