PLEA Network

14 December 2019, Climate Home News, Australia and Brazil carbon credits will put 1.5C out of reach, 31 countries say. Carbon market rules being pursued by Australia and Brazil are not in line with the 1.5C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement, according to 31 countries who broke from tense discussions at the UN climate talks in Madrid.Led by Costa Rica, they published a set of 11 benchmarks they said represented the “minimum” standard to ensure integrity of the global carbon trading system due to come into effect next year. The ‘San Jose principles’ were signed by 30 other countries including France, Germany, the UK, Spain and New Zealand. Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Costa Rica’s environment minister, said the principles present “a definition of success” on the new carbon market rules and “keep the door open” for limiting warming to 1.5C. “Anything below these San Jose principles won’t create a fair and robust carbon market,” he said. “The diverse group of countries supporting these principles know we need a just outcome to keep the 1.5C target within reach.” Read more here