Reporting, comment by Mathew Carr

July 22, 2025 — The new UN carbon market was created to incentivize investment in emission cuts around the world. It was meant to help solve climate injustice.

It’s trying to get money flowing to developing nations from rich countries and corporations with tight climate targets. That’s after 35 years of trying and failing.

That’s if it doesn’t itself go broke by the end of the year.

The article 6.4 market, now known as Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism or PACM, will rapidly running out of cash and will end the year with $1.1 million vs $15.4 million at the end of last year.

After receiving a mere $106,100 in income in the reporting period, the new UN market has spent money at a pace of $8.7 million every six months.

Broke before it’s started?

The new UN carbon market hasn’t really even started yet, following 10 years of delay since the Paris deal was struck at the end of 2015. (It’s complicated work.)

See this from its draft annual report, published Monday:

Countries are showing a shocking inability to prioritize important things.

This is happening as global temperatures are at record levels for the time of year, right now and the past two years:

Daily surface temperatures have been no-where near average since early 2023 (see the wider grey line) — so that’s two years of record highs, pretty much

I’m sure someone will cough up ….(nervous laughter).

There is a tiny ray of hope here with the indicated price of CORSIA carbon credits (a related UN market for airlines) is indicated at record high levels on the ICE exchange in London.

NOTE

Annual report — draft