Poor emissions accounting could undermine carbon markets

As the Paris Agreement moves towards implementation, we explore opportunities it presents to move part of the climate change mitigation challenge upstream into supply-side climate policy. Supply-side climate policies have been sparsely employed to date, although interest is growing in approaches that can curtail and end fossil fuel production. Rather than focussing on fully eliminating fossil fuel production, we set out an alternative supply-side approach that involves fossil fuel producers taking progressive action to reduce and eliminate the climate impacts of their products. Our proposal uses the Paris Agreement's framework for finance and international cooperation to establish supply-side climate action that supplements demand-side climate policies, and thereby enhance climate ambition. The concepts presented rely on large-scale geosequestration technologies that can deposit carbon into geological reservoirs at rates progressively aligned to those at which carbon is being extracted by fossil fuel producers. Convergence of extraction and deposition rates is a necessary condition for achieving net-zero CO 2 emissions while still enabling some essential uses of fossil carbon. We propose an evolutionary approach to policy development, starting as a technology-support mechanism using results-based finance before transitioning into systematic measures under, firstly, Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and, ultimately, decarbonised fuel standards. Collectively these could incentivise fossil fuel resource holders to manage both outflows and inflows of carbon in the geosphere, and in doing so, create, foster, accelerate and maintain an urgently needed market for geological CO 2 storage. Key policy insights. Balancing rates of carbon extraction from the geosphere (e.g. fossil fuel production) and rates of carbon deposition in stable geological reservoirs can achieve net-zero emissions alongside efforts to reduce emission flows to the atmosphere.. Framing the climate mitigation challenge around carbon stock management on the supply-side of fossil fuel markets offers new ways to enhance climate ambition by mobilizing the financial and technical resources of fossil fuel producers in deploying carbon capture and storage.. International cooperation under the Paris Agreement offers a powerful opportunity to establish tradeable units that support establishment of a liquid market in verified carbon storage.

This study describes the development and deployment of a new climate data management system aimed at improving climate data management and associated climate services in Pacific island countries and East Timor. The system is called Climate Data for the Environment (CliDE). Installed locally, it provides each country with a central relational database and web-based user interface that includes customizable key entry forms, quality control tools, station maintenance forms, meteorological and climate reports, and data file extracts. It has been deployed as free and open source software in 15 countries (East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Niue and Cook Islands).In developing CliDE, the project team sought to develop a database capable of providing a robust method of managing an individual country's meteorological observations from networks typically consisting of several to hundreds of stations. In many Pacific countries significant data remain only in paper form; therefore, a key consideration was in providing a secure and efficient means for digitizing paper records. As CliDE has developed, it has become the central hub of a multitude of climate and meteorological services of benefit to small national meteorological services, such as statistical reports, graphical analyses, data extractions, climate summaries, and products that can provide input to public works planning, agriculture and health sectors. It has helped improve significantly the work flow, data integrity and consistency beyond previous practices in the western Pacific.

Cames (2020) Outside in? Using international carbon markets for mitigation not covered by nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the

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