The US, Australia, Japan and India are planning to support the use of carbon markets by countries in the Indo-Pacific region to meet their commitments under the Paris climate agreement.
The four countries said they are launching a Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP) to support mitigation and adaption activities in the region. This includes "capacity building support to advance high integrity carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris agreement," the countries said.
"To make Q-CHAMP tangible, we are committed to expanding our programs, in support of climate actions between our four countries as well as in the Indo-Pacific region. We recognize the immense challenges posed by climate change to the island nations of the Pacific," they said.
The UN's Cop 26 climate conference last year resulted in an agreement on a rulebook for Article 6, six years after it was included in the Paris climate agreement, including rules against double counting of emission reductions and a government-to-government market.
The new regional initiative also calls for cooperation on a number of other fronts, including clean hydrogen and ammonia, carbon capture, reducing methane emissions from the natural gas sector and "climate smart" agriculture.
The four countries make up the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad group, which Washington sees as a democratic counterweight to China's growing regional power. The countries' leaders held a summit in Tokyo yesterday, where US president Joe Biden met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and Australia's new prime minister Anthony Albanese, who was sworn in on 23 May after his Labor Party won the country's federal election.
The new Australian government plans to update the country's Paris agreement pledge and target a 43pc reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, relative to 2005 levels.
The summit is part of a five-day visit to Japan and South Korea by Biden. This week he also announced a new economic framework deal for Asia-Pacific designed to boost investment in clean energy infrastructure, drive decarbonization efforts and strengthen regional supply chains.
