Promoting Carbon Markets

High-level dialogue discusses carbon pricing and MRV in the Americas

(Photo: Servicios de Conferencias CEPAL - Santiago)

March 2018 - On 22 and 23 January 2018 in Santiago de Chile, the Ministry of the Environment of Chile organized the "High Level Regional Dialogue on Carbon Pricing and MRV in the Americas". Supported by UN ECLAC, the Government of Canada and the World Bank Group, the event aimed at moving towards convergent MRV systems and exploring future carbon markets for the region. In addition to government representatives from the Americas, representatives from the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) and the German Federal Ministry of the Environment (BMU) were also present in order to share insights on the European perspective.

The event exemplified the strong commitment by both national and subnational jurisdictions in the Americas with respect to using carbon pricing instruments for climate change mitigation. This commitment is also reflected in the Declaration on Carbon Pricing in the Americas which Columbia, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Canada and California adopted at the One Planet Summit in Paris in December 2017. The Declaration emphasizes a shared vision of cooperation and of promoting carbon pricing. One of its main objectives is to establish the technical basis for possible regional carbon market mechanisms in the form of coherent MRV systems.

In the Latin American region, the countries of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) have been leaders in exploring alternatives for mitigating climate change. Initiatives by this alliance include work on voluntary carbon markets and converging MRV systems.
In his address, the Undersecretary of the Environment of Chile, Jorge Canals, stressed that moving towards low-carbon and sustainable development was an extremely urgent task in the region. “One step in this direction is the adoption of carbon pricing instruments, widely validated as a tool to mitigate greenhouse gases.”

Rodrigo Pizarro, Head of Division in the Ministry of the Environment of Chile, emphasized that carbon markets would present an enormous opportunity for the region and that regional collaboration was extremely important.

Jürgen Landgrebe, Head of Division at the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt), presented the German experience concerning MRV of emissions (trading) and discussed challenges and opportunities in terms of implementing such a system.

In his speech, Alexander Handke from the BMU highlighted lessons learnt from implementing the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

Participants agreed to further the collaboration and continue the dialogue in order to promote carbon pricing in the region in a coherent manner.
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