The adoption of new standards for creating carbon credits under the Paris Agreement on the first day of the UN Cop 29 climate summit yesterday is a key step, but work continues on Article 6.
Cop parties agreed yesterday on standards that will cover credits for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions removals under Article 6.4 of the Paris accord. The new standards set requirements for developing and assessing projects and establish rules covering carbon removal projects. Article 6 of the Paris accord aims to help set rules on global carbon trade.
Cop 29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev said the decision is a critical step towards concluding Article 6 negotiations. "This will be a game-changing tool to direct resources to the developing world and help us save up to $250bn/yr when implementing our climate plans," Rafiyev reiterated.
"[The] centralised UN mechanism for markets looks at the projects that are not financially feasible currently and how it can help in providing some stream of revenue," chair for the supervisory body Maria al-Jishi said.
UN climate body UNFCCC chief Simon Stiell said that yesterday's breakthrough was a good start but pointed out that this was "the product of over 10 years of work within the process" and that more work remains to be done.
Cop parties must reach a deal on other aspects of implementing 6.4 and 6.2, which together govern how countries can use carbon credits to meet their GHG emissions-reduction pledges, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Remaining issues include the nature of credit registries, the guidance for inclusion of removals and a solution for dealing with reporting inconsistencies and credit authorisations.
Overlapping articles 6.4 and 6.2 elements are still under discussion and will require a decision at Cop 29, including on how governments and host parties choose to interact with 6.4 on credit authorisation and how national credit registries can interact with the 6.4 registry, al-Jishi said.
