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UNFCCC carbon trading could undermine global climate action

Nature Climate Change volume 16, pages 8–9 (2026) Cite this article

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Recent United Nations policymaking on international emissions trading fails to reconcile longstanding flaws that could jeopardize the integrity of these programmes. We call for urgent action by policymakers to safeguard the future of the Paris Agreement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Stephen Lezak & Barbara Haya

  2. Smith School of Enterprise & the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Stephen Lezak & Injy Johnstone

  3. School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Sharaban Zaman

Authors
  1. Stephen Lezak
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  2. Sharaban Zaman
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  3. Injy Johnstone
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  4. Barbara Haya
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Correspondence to Stephen Lezak.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Climate Change thanks Tom Swinfield and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Lezak, S., Zaman, S., Johnstone, I. et al. UNFCCC carbon trading could undermine global climate action. Nat. Clim. Chang. 16, 8–9 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02517-5

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