Potential for Europe to pivot to China on carbon trade as UK and US pull back
The structure of the European Union’s 15-year-old carbon trading market is long overdue for an update if it is to keep pace with growing national ambitions to halt climate-destroying activity and geopolitical shifts
BREXIT BLUES The UK has been a world leader in free-trade solutions to the climate crisis, making its departure from the EU a big blow to the trading bloc’s ability to keep its carbon reduction efforts on an affordable track
CHINA CONFIDENCE Announcement by China of its goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060 boosted confidence in the willingness of big Asian economies to participate in global climate-cooperation, such as the carbon market favoured by the EU
BLOCKCHAIN BOOST Introduction of IT ledger technology could help oil the wheels of cross-border emissions trading between the EU and the rest of the world, as well as trade in cleaner energy-intensive goods
KEY QUOTE International cooperation matters because a global solution is the only way of tackling all the pollution that is harming the climate
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