India, Dec. 6 -- Finalising rules on carbon markets is a priority at the Conference of Parties 25 or CoP 25 (see the Centre for Science and Environment or CSE's primer here ). Midway through the first of two weeks of negotiations, progress remains limited. New negotiating text emerged on December 4 on Article 6 (the 'markets article' in the Paris Agreement). A number of highly technical issues still remain to be resolved.

The Paris rulebook needs to (indirectly) regulate bilateral/mini-multilateral markets

Markets under the Paris Agreement come in two types. Article 6.2 sets up rules for credits traded on bilateral or mini-multilateral markets (such as the European Union Emission Trading System) if such credits are being counted towards...