In these days of a certain depressive hangover after COP29, it is pertinent to remember that the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 and which came into force in 2005, was a historical milestone that, in order to promote sustainable development, committed, for the first turn, industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One of the mechanisms to achieve this reduction was to implement a flexible market, that is, putting a price on emissions to create an economic stimulus, to avoid and thus reduce such emissions where it is most cost-efficient. It was the beginning of the calls carbon marketsinstruments to stimulate emissions reduction objectives and that have become a key element of climate change mitigation policies.
With all this, the system is not efficient enough. In fact, although the amount of credits available is reduced over time to ensure that emissions also decrease, the strong push that the EU has given to renewable energies has caused a surplus of credits, especially by the electricity sector. which is the one that is decarbonizing the fastest. If we add to this that there is a lower demand for credits for the contraction of industrial production in Europe, the result is a decrease in the carbon price in recent years: from €100/tCO₂ in 2023 to €66/tCO₂ current. It is necessary to raise the carbon price and reduce the volume of credits at a rate more in line with the objectives for 2030 and 2040.
Although it is a brainy and apparently boring topic, carbon markets are very topical. One of the points of agreement at COP29 has been the definition of the functioning of carbon markets within the framework of the Paris Agreement (2015) at a global level, since it clarifies how countries will authorize the trading of carbon credits and how they will work. monitoring records. And in our country, Congress is transposing a European directive through a Bill to regulate the trading of greenhouse gas emission rights. The transposition of a directive that should have already come into force is of vital urgency to, among other reasons, avoid legal uncertainty in the new sectors that are joining the carbon market such as transport.
Starting from the realization that this incentive system has reduced emissions, it must also be taken into account that this mechanism favors the richest and most powerful, as in fact every free market does: companies that want to emit above their quota They buy emissions permits from others that commit to emitting below the granted quota. Or plant more trees.
Therefore, it is important to control and regulate the proper functioning of the emissions system, and it is precisely for this reason that the Plurinational Sumar Group proposes, via amendment to the aforementioned Bill, the creation of a Central Carbon Bank. The new body would be in charge of implementing the greenhouse gas reduction policy. To do this, it would have, among others, the following powers: the management and monitoring of emissions limits; the sanction of non-compliance; offer technical opinions; and manage a whole series of instruments linked to the emissions system. Among them, the development and application of the Border Carbon Tax, to put a fair price on the carbon emitted during the production of goods that enter the EU and the essential Social Climate Fund, which will allow alleviating the contingencies of the ecological transition. fair and ensure that no one is left behind.
In short, it would be an organization that would ensure a robust emissions system, and that would also have an Advisory Council whose role would be to provide independent and up-to-date scientific advice on the matter. And science must be the guiding principle of all climate policies in a context where the reactionary international is cracking the global consensus on the importance of addressing the climate emergency. The transposition of this directive is an opportunity to expand climate ambition and develop essential instruments that promote this fair, essential and urgent ecological transition. A transition that decarbonizes the most polluting sectors and thus ensures our survival on a finite planet.
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