IN LAGOS: A new international initiative between the EU, Brazil, and China has launched an Open Coalition to boost the integrity and effectiveness of carbon markets, supporting the delivery of the Paris Agreement.
Established in 2015, the Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. The Paris Agreement works on a five-year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action. As of January 2026, there are 194 parties to the agreement.
The coalition will provide a platform for cooperation on the development and strengthening of domestic carbon markets and carbon pricing policies. Its work will focus on key elements such as robust monitoring, reporting and verification systems, sound carbon accounting methodologies, and the potential use of high-integrity offsets to promote environmental integrity.
The European Commission says it is entering the coalition with a clear set of priorities including enhancing domestic carbon pricing effectiveness, encouraging a race to the top for carbon credits quality, and assessing how carbon accounting methods can be compared and whether suggestions can be made to facilitate corporate compliance across systems.
With the adoption of the coalition’s term of reference, it is now open to countries with nationwide compliance carbon markets, such as emissions trading systems or a carbon tax.
New Zealand and Germany are the first countries to join as members, with several others expected to follow.
Brazil will chair the coalition for the first two years, with China and the European Commission acting as co-chairs.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
The coalition intends to establish a secretariat and develop a work plan to adopt at the Carbon Market Conference taking place on 15 September 2026 in Wuhan, China.
Director-General for Climate Action Kurt Vandenberghe says together, these countries will make emissions trading systems more effective, robust, and transparent.
“Ultimately, our collaboration should reduce greenhouse gas emissions whilst growing, modernising, and innovating our economies,” Vandenberghe says.
“The EU ETS is a great example — it has directly helped us to reduce emissions by 50% in the concerned economic sectors while raising €260 billion ($423 billion) in revenues to boost decarbonisation and innovation.
“We invite all countries with carbon pricing legislation in place to express their interest and join the coalition.”
According to data obtained by Climate TRACE, global greenhouse gas emissions for January 2026 totalled 5.3 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent. This represents a 0.3% increase versus the same period last year.
Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other synthetic chemicals, trap some of the Earth’s outgoing energy — retaining heat in the atmosphere. As a result of trapped heat, changes in the radiative balance of Earth take place.
The changes in concentrations causes warming and affects various aspects of climate, including surface air and ocean temperatures, precipitation, and sea levels. Human health, agriculture, water resources, forests, wildlife, and coastal areas are also vulnerable to climate change.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: European Commission
