Extensive negotiations focused on finalizing the details of a “rulebook” for an international carbon market under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

By Jean-Philippe Brisson, Paul A. Davies, Sarah Fortt, Betty M. Huber, Michael Dreibelbis, and Qingyi Pan

The 27th annual Conference of Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is well underway in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Over the past week, governments, corporations, non-governmental organizations, academics, and other members of civil society have been invited to discuss and collaborate on strategies for reducing carbon emissions and achieving net-zero targets.

Last year, COP26 in Glasgow led to notable progress in relation to global carbon credit markets and climate change mitigation. Significantly, a large number of countries that are party to the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement signed the “Glasgow Climate Pact,” in which they agreed, among other things, to focus on limiting the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. It is critical that COP27 continues to build on the Glasgow Climate Pact to keep this momentum going.

This year as in prior years, Latham & Watkins is participating in the summit by speaking on panels and working with clients. This blog post summarizes the highlights from the first week of COP27. Latham will continue to monitor developments at the summit and will report on any final text adopted by the parties to the UNFCCC.