18 countries, including the US, Japan and Germany, have agreed to work together to promote the growth of international carbon markets.
The countries will develop a "robust" set of standards and guidelines to help facilitate the trading of carbon credits across different national emissions trading systems.
The declaration was launched by New Zealand in the wake of global agreement on emissions reduction at the UN climate change summit, COP21, which has paved the way for the expansion and linking of carbon markets and the cross-border use of emission offset credits.
"The declaration signals the importance of markets in implementing the new agreement," said Tim Groser, New Zealand's minister for trade and climate change issues. "Countries and investors will have more confidence in the market if it is underpinned by robust standards. New Zealand is leading the way to bring interested countries together to work on these standards."
The countries that have so far signed up to the declaration are Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Senegal, Ukraine and the US.
People:Tim Groser
