Cop: Israel eager to tap Paris carbon market

Israel is aiming to take advantage of its "unique" solutions in a global carbon market developing under the Paris Agreement.

The country has many companies that are developing technologies to store carbon or avoid emissions in various ways, from turning garbage into plastic to forms of direct air capture, all which could generate carbon credits. Other companies have also developed new methods for measuring carbon sequestration.

"If you are able to do it, and to measure it, you are also able to sell it," Israeli climate envoy Gideon Behar told Argus on the sidelines of the Cop 28 UN climate conference in Dubai on 4 December. "So carbon for us, the issue of carbon credits, carbon sequestration is very important."

Key to that will be fully implementing articles 6.2 and 6.4, key carbon market provisions of the Paris climate agreement, "as soon as possible", he said.

"This is a must. This by itself will help a lot, will create a market, international market, global market for everyone to participate," Behar said.

Among the many issues being discussed in Dubai this and next week are the methodologies and requirements for projects to claim article 6.4 emission reduction or removals, otherwise known as 6.4 ERs. Project developers interested in tapping article 6.4 potential are eagerly awaiting the final rules. Article 6.4 carbon credits are expected to come at higher prices than those under voluntary carbon markets.

The availability of the credits could be crucial to Israel, a major exporter of natural gas to the Mediterranean. The country is not necessarily enthusiastic about including a call for a phase down or phase out of fossil fuels in the final Cop 28 text but instead it wants to see more attention on including specific targets and deadlines.

"We really all have to move into more energy efficiency and reductions of emissions and stopping as swift as possible with the use of fossil fuels" that are difficult to sequester, Behar said. "In that regard, I think that Israel has a very unique role to play."

By Michael Ball