Governments at COP29 on Monday approved new UN standards for international carbon markets, a key step towards allowing countries to trade credits On the opening day of UN climate talks in Azerbaijan, nearly 200 countries agreed after nearly a decade of complex discussions to several fundamental basic rules for setting the market in motion.

Other key aspects of the overall framework have yet to be negotiated, experts said, but the decision brings a long-sought UN-backed high-quality credit trading market closer.

"It's hugely important," Erika Lennon of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) told AFP in Baku, saying it would "open the door" to a full-fledged market. (More on phys.org)