BAKU – A significant roundtable event titled ‘The Carbon Mitigation and Market Mechanisms’ was recently held in Baku, bringing together various stakeholders to foster dialogue and coordination in the development and governance of carbon trading schemes. This initiative, under the presidency of COP29 and supported by the British Embassy in Baku, focuses on the establishment of a robust voluntary carbon market in Azerbaijan.
According to Trend News Agency, the roundtable featured discussions on key policy issues, shared international case studies, and aimed to set a foundational framework for carbon market infrastructure in Azerbaijan. Nigar Arpadarai, COP29 High-Level Climate Champion, emphasized the event’s role in bolstering Azerbaijan’s climate action. “Voluntary carbon markets will turbocharge Azerbaijan’s climate action and will firmly put Azerbaijan on the international map of planet-friendly nations. Our goal at COP29 is to support the creation of a carbon credit trading framework that is resilient, growing, inclusive, and fair to all,” Arpadarai stated.
British Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Fergus Auld, highlighted the UK’s commitment to shaping global carbon markets and ensuring that developing countries have access to them. “Evidence suggests that carbon markets could be worth several billion pounds annually by 2030, and potentially much more in the following decades. This is finance that is sorely needed given the scale of the challenge we face,” Auld explained.
The roundtable also served as a platform for the British Standards Institute (BSI) to contribute to Azerbaijan’s climate initiatives. Volodymyr Yakubov, BSI’s International Development Director, expressed enthusiasm about Azerbaijan’s potential to adopt best practices in carbon mitigation. Lily Ginsberg-Keig, Policy Manager at BeZero Carbon, highlighted the importance of focusing on quality as the carbon market sector grows. “It’s crucial to pool expertise from across the market and share knowledge on how we can develop carbon markets which focus on quality, as this sector continues to grow and scale,” Ginsberg-Keig noted.