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1st African Media Training At COP22: Role Of Carbon Markets In Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By William Nana Yaw Beeko, Online Editor, Reporting From Marrakech, Morocco
Africa 1st African Media Training At COP22: Role Of Carbon Markets In Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
NOV 10, 2016 LISTEN

Marrakech, November 10th, 2016---The first of six African media trainings organized by the COP22 communications team and UNFCCC over the course of COP22 was held today in the Blue Zone.

It featured a presentation and Q&A session with Dirk Forrister, CEO, of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) on the topic ““What the Paris Agreement Entry into Force means for Carbon Markets in Africa.”

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IETA is a nonprofit business organization engaged with members companies in establishing a functional international framework for greenhouse gas emission reductions trading.

Dirk Forrister discussed the importance of carbon markets and emissions trading as a way for governments and companies to reach their greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets.

He noted that as many as 90 countries expressed an interest in using carbon markets in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) or “climate change roadmaps” submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Of them, many are on the African continent including Morocco, Senegal, Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast.

For the CEO of IETA the hallmarks of a good carbon reduction mechanism are clear targets, measured and verified results and independent regulatory approval.

Dirk Forrister highlighted a few examples of carbon markets already functioning around the world, including in North America between California and Quebec as well as pilot projects in China and their national carbon market that is slated to be launched by 2017.

External Relations Manager from the COP22 Communications Team, Aicha Benmansour underscored the importance of holding these media trainings during COP22 as a way to provide African journalists with timely and useful information on climate change issues and the Marrakech conference.

Journalists in attendance appreciated this series of trainings that will help them communicate to audiences within their respectives countries and raise awareness on climate change issues affecting the African continent.

Other African media trainings at COP22 will include “The Basics of Climate Science” presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and “Renewable Energy Revolution in Africa – Opportunities and Challenges” held by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

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