Cop 27: Japan launches Article 6 partnership

Japan has launched an initiative for international knowledge sharing and capacity building on Article 6 at the sidelines of Cop 27, while disagreements remain over the article's draft text.

Article 6 governs the use of the voluntary carbon market and international carbon credit trading in meeting countries' Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Japan's environment ministry launched the Paris Agreement Article 6 Implementation Partnership on 16 November, which attracted pledges of participation from 40 countries and 23 institutions at its release.

The partnership aims to complement Article 6 by building a platform for countries to share knowledge and experiences on carbon markets and their links with NDCS. It also plans to provide training and support the development of carbon credit methodologies.

Although the Article 6 "rulebook" was finalised at Cop 26 last year, there are still unresolved issues around mechanisms to implement it that have struggled to make progress at this year's summit.

Parties remain at odds over the deadline for transferring emissions reduction projects listed under the Kyoto protocol's Clean Development Mechanism to the new registry, the transaction procedure for moving credits between countries and conditions for mandatory cancellations of credits, according to the latest draft Article 6.4 text from 17 November seen by Argus.

By Lauren Moffitt