Open letter to climate ministers in advance of COP26

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement has the potential to significantly raise climate ambition and action, and lower costs, through greater private sector engagement and more widespread finance, technology and expertise to catalyse climate action.

In an open letter to climate ministers ahead of the latest round of negotiations, ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton has called for a cohesive multilateral approach to carbon pricing.

Writing on behalf of the global business community and in ICC’s capacity as the business focal point to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the letter highlights the negative impact of fragmented domestic carbon pricing regimes on business operations and risks – particularly those of smaller businesses – and underscores concern that current domestic climate policies are insufficient to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050.

“As you may be aware, recent independent research has shown that implementation of the Article 6 has the potential to reduce the total cost of implementing national climate commitments by more than half—a total of USD$250 billion per year in 2030. Given the fiscal toll of the coronavirus pandemic, we believe that this is too significant a dividend for any government to leave on the table in Glasgow next month.”