The biggest win at COP26 was Article 6. The arcane debate on carbon markets has rumbled on since Paris. Now that an agreement has been reached, I asked Elena Belletti, Head of Carbon Research, why it’s such a big deal. What was the big breakthrough? Tightening the rules on carbon markets which was sorely needed. Trading carbon credits or offsets has developed into a global market worth US$1 billion a year. Offsets, which have been around since Kyoto in 1997, allow an emitting company to offset 1 tonne of carbon emissions by acquiring a credit created by a low-carbon project. These projects could be, say, a wind farm ... (full story)