Martin Hession is Chair of the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, which oversees the rules for the UN carbon market under the Paris Agreement, and Maria AlJishi is the body’s Vice Chair.
The recent adoption of new standards for the UN’s carbon market marks a key step for international climate cooperation, finally aligning offset crediting with the Paris Agreement and providing a benchmark for countries and investors in a world where all nations are expected to continuously raise their climate ambition.
As Chair and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Body developing these rules, we are acutely aware that we serve a diverse set of actors. Our task is to steer a path that delivers climate ambition, supports country priorities, safeguards social and environmental integrity, and offers a reliable framework for investment.
At the core is a persistent question: are the rules effective in delivering real results and fair in balancing the interests of all those involved in the market?
Brazil seeks early deals on two stalled issues at Bonn climate talks
In the past two years, we’ve made important progress. We’ve adopted broad standards for how to calculate both emission reductions and emissions removals, established a system to manage the risk of emissions reversals, and introduced mandatory environmental and human rights safeguards and an independent grievance and appeals process. However, without a steady flow of investment, this progress will remain largely on paper.
Laying the foundation for greater ambition
With the adoption of the new baseline standard in May, we’ve entered a new phase, enabling more ambitious credits. We now have a clear and rigorous standard to guide the implementation of stronger crediting benchmarks. In today’s context, it offers a more realistic starting point for measuring credible emissions reductions and removals.
Under this benchmark, credits can only be claimed for reductions compared to conservative estimates of what would have occurred without the project. Projects can no longer earn credits for minor improvements over business-as-usual; they must use more conservative baselines that reflect growing climate ambition.
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For example, a mechanism methodology may require crediting levels to be set at least 10% below historical emissions or benchmarked against best-in-class performance and then require a decline by at least 1% per year. This steady tightening ensures alignment with a net zero pathway, reduces the risk of over-crediting, and helps host countries retain more emission reductions, supporting future ambition.
The leakage standard is another important step, though more work remains to address emissions impacts at the national or sectoral level. Its goal is to make sure that projects reducing emissions in one place don’t cause emissions elsewhere. For example, if a reforestation project protects one area but displaces logging to a nearby region, the overall benefit could be lost. The standard requires projects to identify and track such indirect impacts and subtract them from the emissions cuts they claim.
Avoiding past mistakes
These technical standards are essential to ensuring environmental integrity. But their success also depends on trust and participation, particularly from countries hosting the carbon credit projects. As they weigh whether to approve credits and crediting programmes, they will understandably want to retain a share of the emissions reduction benefits from the investments. The new standards help address this, but more is needed.
The Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) already hardwires the roles and responsibilities of host countries into its processes. At our last meeting, we discussed how to strengthen communication and deepen engagement with host countries to ensure national policies and climate ambition are respected, and where requested, supported and enhanced.
Carbon credits have long faced scrutiny for overpromising and underdelivering. We are well aware of the need to avoid repeating past mistakes. From the outset, we’ve worked to improve on previous models, applying lessons learned.
UN approves carbon market safeguards to protect environment and human rights
The context for crediting has changed significantly since the early days of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a benchmark for many voluntary programmes. While we will continue to build on CDM methodologies and experience, we must adapt them to a more ambitious framework, one that responds to host country expectations the CDM was never designed to meet.
We now move forward with renewed confidence. Our new rules allow for top-down updates to old carbon credit methodologies – meaning we can revise them centrally for key sectors. We’ve also received the first proposal for a brand-new methodology through the bottom-up process, where ideas come directly from project developers or local actors. And the first PACM credits could be issued later this year.
Scrutiny welcome
We’ve been criticised for moving slowly and for the complexity of our process. It has taken time to reach political agreement on the implementation framework for the new UN carbon market. But the positive reception of the framework we presented at the COP29 climate summit in Baku helped accelerate our progress. Thanks to the excellent work of our expert panels, we adopted detailed standards quickly. We believe these are both ambitious and clear.
Of course, there is more to do. Later this year, we’ll consider detailed rules to assess and insure against the risk of emissions reversals. We aim to see the full framework in action by early next year.
We are taking a practical, agile approach to implementation. The general standards set the direction; individual methodologies will be detailed but designed to evolve. Implementation will be phased, with space for continuous feedback and improvement.
We welcome scrutiny, not just for accountability, but as essential to our mission of fair and effective implementation for a high-integrity UN carbon market.
The post A credible UN carbon market needs rules that count – we’ve just set them appeared first on Climate Home News.
A credible UN carbon market needs rules that count – we’ve just set them
Today, Greenpeace activists disrupted Woodside’s Annual General Meeting, its biggest corporate event of the year, to put the dirty gas corporation’s disastrous plans to drill at Scott Reef front and centre.
While a community rallied outside the shareholder meeting, Greenpeace activists brought the protest inside.
Together, a clear message was sent to Woodside’s executives: keep your hands off Scott Reef.
Inside, a choir of activists performed a ‘Save Scott Reef’ rendition of Angie McMahon’s cover of ‘Reckless’ – a plea to Woodside’s executives, including new CEO Liz Westcott, and shareholders to abandon their reckless plans to drill for dirty gas on the doorstep of a pristine ocean ecosystem.
Several activists were escorted out of the meeting by security while singing and holding up “Hands off Scott Reef” signs that had been smuggled into the room.
Outside, a powerful community gathered in protest, calling on WA and Federal governments to reject Woodside’s Browse project and put our oceans and climate first.
Why are we doing this?
Woodside’s Browse project involves drilling 57 gas wells underneath and around Scott Reef – a critical habitat for rare marine life including pygmy blue whales, green sea turtles and the dusky sea snake.
Gas would be extracted and transported to the Burrup Hub – the most polluting fossil fuel project in Australia. This proposal would industrialise Australia’s largest freestanding oceanic reef system, threatening the marine life that relies on it and the climate.
This project has already been called “unacceptable” by the WA EPA, and has not yet been approved by either the WA or Federal government.
That means our voices matter, now.
Woodside cannot be trusted with our oceans. Together, we can save Scott Reef.
Climate Change
DeBriefed 24 April 2026: Europe’s energy-crisis plan | Renewables overtake coal | Colombia’s fossil-fuel summit
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Europe’s energy plan
ENERGY CUSHION: On Wednesday, the European Commission set out a package of measures to offset surging energy prices caused by the Iran war, reported Reuters. The draft “actions” include cutting electricity taxes and coordinating the filling of fossil-gas storage this summer, the newswire explained. It added that the package stopped short of “major market interventions”, such as capping gas prices or taxing the windfall profits of energy companies. (Carbon Brief published an interactive table of the 44 actions.)
‘BAD SCENARIO’: The newswire quoted EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen, who said to expect higher gas prices for a “couple of years”, adding: “We really do need to get rid of our dependency on gas as fast as possible. So, for us, this means speeding up more clean energy.” Legal proposals to change tax rules are expected in May, the article said, noting: “Tax changes require unanimous approval from EU countries, making them difficult to pass.”
FLIGHT RISK: The 16-page “AccelerateEU” document also includes plans to coordinate on jet fuel and diesel supplies “to fend off a looming shortage”, said Politico. Jorgensen told Sky News that European summer holidays were “very likely” at risk of “flight cancellations or very, very expensive tickets”. The Financial Times reported that German airline Lufthansa has already “cancelled 20,000 flights between May and October to save fuel”.
Around the world
- RENEWABLES RECORD: Renewable energy overtook coal last year to become the world’s largest source of electricity, according to analysis by thinktank Ember, covered by Carbon Brief.
- ‘PRIORITISE UNITY’: France chose to omit climate change from the agenda of a G7 meeting in Paris this week in order to “avoid a row with the US”, said Agence France-Presse.
- CHINA WARNING: China has pledged to “strictly control” coal use and will grade local authorities on how well they meet the country’s climate goals, according to two new policies covered in a Q&A by Carbon Brief.
- ‘DOUBLE DOWN’: The UK government said it will “move…to break [the] link between gas and electricity prices” in response to the spike in fossil-fuel prices, reported Carbon Brief.
- EXTREME HEAT: A report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that global food systems are being “pushed to the brink” by increasingly common and severe heatwaves on land and at sea, reported the Guardian.
- WHAT’S IN A NAME: In a national vote, Japan selected “kokushobi” – translated as “cruelly hot” – as the new term to describe days that hit 40C, reported BBC News.
£785
The amount that a new electric vehicle is cheaper, on average, than a new petrol car, according to car sales website Autotrader. The Guardian described this as a “significant milestone in Britain’s transition away from fossil fuels”.
Latest climate research
- Climate-driven extremes in temperature and pH put “underwater cultural heritage”, such as shipwrecks in the Taiwan strait, at greater risk of corrosion | Climate Services
- As many as 98% of environmental claims and commitments made by meat and dairy companies over 2021-24 could be categorised as “greenwashing” | PLOS Climate
- Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is “unlikely to generate negative emissions within 150 years” and is “likely to increase electricity costs by ~3.5-fold” | Nature Sustainability
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
With a strong – or even “super” – El Niño event expected to develop later this year, Carbon Brief estimated that 2026 is on track to be the second-warmest year on record. The prediction puts global average temperature in 2026 at between 1.37C and 1.58C above pre-industrial levels, with a best estimate of 1.47C. This means that 2024 is “virtually certain” to be one of the top-four warmest years, but there is still a 19% chance that 2026 will be the warmest year on record – beating the prior record set in 2024.
Spotlight
Countries mull fossil-fuel transition in Colombia
This week, Carbon Brief reports from a first-of-its-kind summit on transitioning away from fossil fuels being held in Santa Marta, Colombia.
Around 60 countries are arriving in Santa Marta, Colombia today where – against a backdrop of white-sand beaches, rolling forested hills and stifling humidity – they will consider ways to move away from fossil fuels.
The first global summit on transitioning away from fossil fuels comes after a large group of nations campaigned for – but, ultimately, failed – to get all countries to formally agree to a “roadmap” away from coal, oil and gas at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil last November.
The nations gathering in Santa Marta for the summit, co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands, call themselves the “coalition of the willing”.
Together, they account for one-third of global fossil-fuel demand and one-fifth of global production, according to the Colombian government.
The group includes major oil-and-gas producers such as the UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Norway. Some big emitters – such as the US, China and India – are not expected to attend. (There is a question mark over whether China and India were invited.)
Academics to advise
In a departure from COP summits, the six-day event, from 24-29 April, will begin with a “science pre-conference”, where academics from across the world will present and discuss the latest scientific evidence on ways to transition away from fossil fuels.
Ahead of this, countries attending the talks have already been handed a draft scientific report with “action recommendations”, such as “halting all new fossil-fuel expansion” and “reject[ing] gas as a bridging fuel”, as revealed by Carbon Brief.
The report will be further debated and refined by scientists attending the academic segment of the Santa Marta talks, before a final version is made public towards the end of April, Carbon Brief understands.
The science pre-conference will also separately see the launch of a new advisory panel on fossil-fuel transition and a scientifically led roadmap for how Colombia can transition away from fossil fuels, sources tell Carbon Brief.
Alongside the science pre-conference, dialogues will also be held with Indigenous peoples, environmental organisations and other stakeholders.
‘High-level segment’
The science pre-conference will be followed by a “high-level segment” from 28-29 April, where ministers and other policymakers will meet to consider ways to transition away from fossil fuels. (Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro Urrego is expected to speak.)
At the end of the conference, countries are due to release a report featuring a “menu of solutions” for transitioning away from fossil fuels, according to Colombia’s environment minister Irene Vélez Torres.
This report is, in turn, set to inform a global “roadmap” on transitioning away from fossil fuels being developed by the Brazilian COP30 presidency, which is due to be presented at COP31 in Turkey this November.
The Brazilian COP30 presidency offered to bring forward a “voluntary” fossil-fuel transition “roadmap” outside of the official COP process, after countries failed to formally agree to one during negotiations in Belém.
Watch, read, listen
‘SHADOW DOCKET’: The New York Times obtained the “secret memos” behind the US supreme court’s decision in 2016 to block the Obama administration’s clean-power plan.
EGREGIOUS ENGAGEMENT: DeSmog identified multiple social media accounts in Sri Lanka posting AI-generated “energy policy rage bait” to UK Facebook feeds (as first revealed by Carbon Brief’s Leo Hickman).
CHINA ‘DOMINANCE’: A “Bloomberg originals” video looked at the “race to challenge China’s EV lead”.
Coming up
- 24-29 April: First conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels, Santa Marta, Colombia
- 28-29 April: Innovation Zero world congress, London, UK
- 29 April: Stop food waste day
- 6-7 May:GLF Africa 2026: stewarding our rangelands, Nairobi, Kenya
Pick of the jobs
- Natural England, chief executive officer | Salary: circa £130,000. Location: UK
- ETH Zurich, postdoctoral position in climate science | Salary: Unknown. Location: Zurich, Switzerland
- International Energy Agency, partnership manager – clean energy ministerial | Salary: €97,180. Location: Paris, France
- Greenpeace, media diversification press officer | Salary: £48,396-£55,644. Location: London, UK (hybrid)
- Our World In Data, writer | Salary: £80,000-£120,000. Location: Oxford, UK or remote
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 24 April 2026: Europe’s energy-crisis plan | Renewables overtake coal | Colombia’s fossil-fuel summit appeared first on Carbon Brief.
The U.S. House of Representatives unexpectedly canceled a vote on a bill that would defang the Endangered Species Act.
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