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Water quality markets are gaining worldwide popularity as strategies to provide flexibility and cost savings to sources managing pollution. One prominent example is the establishment of water quality trading programs in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in the United States to manage nonpoint and point source pollution. Some of the agricultural land use practices that can be used to generate offsets in water quality markets in this region have other environmental benefits including greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration. This study describes the structure of Maryland's water quality trading program, its climate co-benefits and its potential link with GHG markets. Results reveal that Maryland's agricultural sector could offset half of its GHG emissions by 2020 through projects primarily designed to improve water quahty. The potential opportunity for agricultural sources to participate in multiple markets could provide incentives for the adoption of management practices that have climate co-benefits. The results of this study could guide the continued development of multiple markets in the Bay watershed and other regions of the world where ecosystem markets play a role in pollution management.

Momentum for national net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) commitments is growing quickly. Nonetheless, there are justifiable concerns over their credibility. And as no country has fully decarbonized yet, it is difficult to determine whether current efforts are likely to trigger the scale of transformation required for achieving net zero. Yet it will be too late if we wait until mid-century to assess whether we have achieved this global benchmark. As nations enhance near-term action to reach their climate goals, it is critically important that we utilize stronger methods for planning and tracking real progress toward net zero. We need a framework to examine national climate action that can help hold governments accountable to their net-zero targets in real time and provide confidence to the international community that governments are making adequate efforts to radically reduce GHG emissions. This paper offers the authors' perspective on what might be an initial approach for reviewing net-zero target implementation and provides recommendations for how to qualitatively assess or evaluate national governments' net zero efforts along with suggestions for further research and study.

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