{"id":396,"date":"2026-04-01T14:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/?p=396"},"modified":"2026-04-07T10:12:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T10:12:32","slug":"pakistan-norway-sign-carbon-market-deal-under-paris-agreement-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/pakistan-norway-sign-carbon-market-deal-under-paris-agreement-milestone\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan, Norway sign carbon market deal under Paris Agreement: milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ISLAMABAD<\/strong>: Pakistan and Norway on Wednesday signed the former\u2019s first-ever carbon market deal under the Paris Agreement, according to an official press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the press release, \u201cPakistan and Norway on Wednesday signed the country\u2019s first landmark bilateral agreement under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, opening the door to international carbon trading, climate finance and major investment in clean energy and climate-smart agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To tackle climate change and its negative impacts, world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) signed the Paris Agreement on December 12, 2015, according to the United Nations. The agreement included commitments from all countries to reduce their emissions and work together to adapt to the impacts of climate change, and called on countries to strengthen their commitments over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The press release issued on Wednesday said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in Islamabad under the auspices of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination marked Pakistan\u2019s \u201cformal entry into the global carbon market and is being seen as a breakthrough in the country\u2019s climate diplomacy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the agreement, Pakistan will be able to develop carbon-credit generating projects in sectors such as clean energy, agriculture, transport and waste management and potentially sell the resulting emission reductions to Norway, the statement said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Musadik Malik termed the agreement a \u201chistoric milestone\u201d, saying it would shift Pakistan from carbon market preparedness to practical implementation, the statement added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is Pakistan\u2019s first bilateral agreement under Article 6.2 and an important step towards implementation,\u201d Malik said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt creates a credible pathway for international cooperation and investment in Pakistan\u2019s climate priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malik said the agreement would strengthen Pakistan\u2019s position in international carbon markets and create new opportunities for the country\u2019s emerging green economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarbon markets cannot be treated as an end in themselves. They must help countries like Pakistan finance transition pathways, create jobs, attract technology and deliver real benefits to communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The climate minister said Pakistan had already put in place the country\u2019s first national policy guidelines for carbon trading, approved by the federal cabinet in January 2025, and was now moving to establish rules, reporting systems and bilateral arrangements needed to operationalise the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Pakistan had strong mitigation potential in sectors such as renewable energy, agriculture, transport and waste management, and that the agreement would encourage project developers and investors to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the signing ceremony, Norway\u2019s Ambassador to Pakistan Per Albert Ilsaas said the accord marked the beginning of a new era in bilateral environmental cooperation, the statement added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPakistan is among the countries most affected by climate change, and we believe this partnership can deliver both measurable emission reductions and real development benefits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNorway, which aims to become climate neutral by 2030, was seeking to purchase Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) under Article 6, not to meet its formal climate targets but to go beyond them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNorway is not purchasing ITMOs to meet its nationally determined contribution targets. We are purchasing them to achieve climate neutrality beyond those commitments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ilsaas said Norway\u2019s Global Emission Reduction Initiative, launched in 2024 with a budget of $1.5 billion, would provide carbon finance to countries such as Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough Norwegian Global Emission Reduction (Noger), we want to channel carbon finance into countries such as Pakistan and help bridge the gap in climate mitigation finance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that Norway was looking beyond individual carbon-credit projects and was interested in large-scale programmes in renewable energy, industry and agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are looking beyond individual projects. We are interested in cooperation across entire sectors where climate policies can generate emission reductions at scale,\u201d the ambassador said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ambassador said Norway had already signed similar agreements with Benin, Indonesia, Zambia, Jordan and Senegal and was working to buy 15 million carbon credits by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement said that Ambassador Ilsaas also invited Pakistan to present a broader pipeline of projects, specifically pointing to renewable energy ventures such as the Zhenfa 100-megawatt solar project and the Indus wind energy project as possible candidates for future cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth sides also agreed that the new ambitious pact could significantly boost Pakistan\u2019s access to climate finance and private-sector investment, while helping the country pursue low-carbon growth and meet its climate commitments under the Paris Agreement,\u201d it concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Norway on Wednesday signed the former\u2019s first-ever carbon market deal under the Paris Agreement, according to an official press release. According to the press release, \u201cPakistan and Norway on Wednesday signed the country\u2019s first landmark bilateral agreement under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, opening the door to international carbon trading, climate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[27],"class_list":{"0":"post-396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"authors":[{"term_id":27,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"afnanwasif","display_name":"Web Desk","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbec8328241e98fefcd32e00f20f7a6b502086a0b95d395db4b1565c51681914?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":397,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions\/397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}