G7 opens Carbon Market Platform to countries worldwide
The German G7 presidency has invited the international community to join the G7 Carbon Market Platform. Germany presented this Carbon Market Platform in the margins of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in order to encourage further countries to become part of this political dialogue. This will address market mechanisms, linking emissions trading systems, energy taxes and cutting back subsidies for fossil fuels in order to put a price on carbon. A global carbon market is seen as the key instrument for achieving the decarbonisation of the global economy and the 2 degrees Celsius target.
Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks commented: "Major emitters like China are introducing emissions trading systems. Many other countries have announced here in Paris that they also plan to introduce market mechanisms. We need to put a price on carbon all over the world so that we can achieve our climate targets. Using a global carbon market we will be able to interlink national market mechanisms in future. China and the European Union are already working together closely on emissions trading."
A decision to set up the platform was taken during Germany’s G7 presidency at the Schloss Elmau summit in June 2015. At the summit the heads of state and government voiced their support for a platform for a strategic dialogue aimed at launching effective measures for the transition to a low carbon global economy. The platform’s goal is to advance the further development and interlinking of carbon markets through cross-border cooperation, to bring together different climate measures and approaches, to identify new areas of cooperation and to support implementation of the climate targets within the UN climate action process. Next year Germany will steer the platform’s work together with the Japanese G7 presidency.