BONN – Countries should not over-rely on buying carbon credits to meet climate targets, the chief executive of this year’s U.N. COP30 summit said on Thursday, as the European Union readies a new emissions goal that may include credits for the first time.
The European Commission is due to propose a new EU climate target for 2040 on July 2, and has said the legally binding goal should be to cut emissions by 90%. But faced with pushback from some governments, Brussels is considering a lower target for domestic industries, and buying international carbon credits to make up the gap to 90%, Reuters has previously reported.
They allow a country to buy “credits” from projects that reduce CO2 emissions abroad – for example, forest restoration in Brazil or Guyana – and count them towards its own climate goal.
Proponents say this is a way to raise funding for CO2-cutting projects in developing nations. Opponents point to recent scandals, where credit-generating projects were found to not deliver the climate benefits they claimed.
Ana Toni, CEO of the COP30 climate summit, which will take place in the Brazilian city of Belem in November, said Brazil did not oppose the use of carbon credits in countries’ targets – known at the U.N. as nationally determined contributions – but warned against relying on them to meet a large chunk of a country’s climate target.
“The amount is important, because it shows how much you change in your own economy … if it’s really a big amount of (credits), you’re not changing your own economy,” she told Reuters.
Toni also said countries must ensure any credits used to meet climate targets deliver quality environmental benefits.
While the view of Brazil, as COP host, is not binding on delegations, it is responsible for guiding the negotiations at the gathering and also doing the diplomatic work to try to get countries to set ambitious goals.
Nearly 200 countries faced a February deadline to submit their 2035 climate targets to the United Nations. Most, including the 27-country EU and China, missed it.
The EU is expected to present its 2035 and 2040 climate goals together next week. EU countries are divided over how much of their 2040 target should be met through credits.
Germany has proposed using credits to meet 3 percentage points of the 90% goal, while countries including France suggest a bigger share, officials said. EU members including Denmark and Finland say credits are not needed at all. REUTERS
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