Carbon credits can ease the friction between economic growth and climate change

CLIMATE conference COP28 opens at the end of November, and signs are that it will be a rancorous affair. The 195 parties to the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 and designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions and therefore keep global temperatures in check, will hear the results of the first global stocktake of national climate change commitments.

The outlook is not good. Analysis by Climate Action Tracker shows that not a single country is on track to limiting global warming to the agreed 1.5 degree Celcius target, and indications are that we are on course for a disastrous three degrees of warming. At the same time, many economies are grappling with inflation, fears of recession and fraying social cohesion.

This will, in all probability, mean that some governments may attempt to backslide on their commitments, judging that a weak promise kept is better than a bold promise broken. This approach is already underway in some countries; in the United Kingdom, for example, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has delayed or halted policies designed to reduce domestic carbon emissions, notably in transportation. His “all-in” policy on North Sea oil will undo much of the work previous prime ministers had done to position the country at the forefront of fighting climate change.