Countries at COP29 in Baku approved carbon credit quality standards, paving the way for a U.N.-backed global carbon market to launch next year. The move aims to fund emission-reducing projects, though critics argue it lacks protections for impacted communities.

Countries at the two-week COP29 climate summit gave the go-ahead on Monday (11 November) to carbon credit quality standards which are critical to launching a U.N.-backed global carbon market that would fund projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The green light was an early deal on the opening day of the U.N. conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The deal on Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement could allow a U.N.-backed global carbon market, which has been years in the making, to start up as soon as next year, one negotiator said.

Carbon credits theoretically allow countries or companies to pay for projects anywhere on the planet that reduce CO2 emissions or remove it from the atmosphere and use credits generated by those projects to offset their own emissions.

Examples of projects could include cultivation of CO2-absorbing mangroves, or distribution of clean stoves to replace polluting methods of cooking in poor rural communities.

The market could be one route for U.S. companies to keep participating in global efforts to address climate change, even if Trump were to quit the Paris accord. If that happened, U.S. firms could still buy credits from the U.N.-backed market to meet their voluntary climate targets.

While the standards approved in Baku were aimed at allaying concerns that many projects do not deliver the climate benefits they claim, campaigners said they fell short in areas including protecting the human rights of communities affected by projects.

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