Climate negotiators have made progress toward a deal aimed at establishing the foundation of an international carbon-trading system, according to people familiar with those talks, putting within reach a long-stalled agreement that many businesses hope will kick-start a global carbon market.
Brazilian officials, who have made a series of demands blocking a deal in the past, say they are now ready to make big concessions. Chinese officials feel they have smoothed out any formal differences with Washington over the issue, according to a person familiar with the matter. On Wednesday, China’s climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, said he was hopeful countries could reach a carbon-trading deal during COP26, the United Nations climate summit taking place over the next two weeks here.
“There is an expectation among everyone that we advance on this” in Glasgow, Marcelo Donnini Freire, Brazil’s deputy secretary for climate and international relations, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “Brazil is going to take an extremely proactive and constructive position so that we can successfully advance.”
A deal isn’t imminent, people familiar with the talks say, and progress could unravel. The deal has been a longtime goal for climate negotiators, foundering at previous summits, including in Madrid in 2019.