Corresponding Adjustments under Article 6

New study analyses key accounting challenges for mitigation outcome transfers

December 2019 – The approach of the Paris Agreement, including its treatment of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and cooperative approaches among Parties under Article 6, is one that is fundamentally decentralised in nature. Its provisions set out parameters within which countries are to take climate action and ratchet up ambition over time, but are neither prescriptive of the actions those countries are to undertake nor the particular approaches to cooperation.

In relation to carbon markets, future guidance to be adopted by the Parties to the Agreement will have to consider the nexus of NDCs, accounting and the various mechanisms for implementing the voluntary cooperation that countries will engage in. It will need to cover in particular the avoidance of double counting, additionality issues of Article 6 activities and other issues that could jeopardise environmental integrity in the generation and transfer of mitigation outcomes, as well as ensuring transparency, good governance and the necessary institutional infrastructure.

A new study supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) aims at making a step toward a better understanding of the above mentioned issues covered by Article 6 as well as an enhanced usage of its scope. The study is now available for download.

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