Discussion Paper on Article 6 – State of Play

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement focuses on a framework for countries to voluntarily cooperate using market and non-market based approaches to raise ambition, thus providing an opening for carbon markets in the post-2020 regime.

The advent of the UN Climate Change Conference COP 25 brings a greater sense of urgency than ever before. With the rulebook on the operationalization of the Paris Agreement largely accepted, the key and most contentious issues around have now been thoroughly discussed. An analysis of party submissions and past negotiations since 2017 has shown that the key highly debated and contentious issues are around ensuring environmental integrity with robust accounting methods and mechanisms, specifically through clarifying and detailing the approaches for corresponding adjustments and for avoiding double counting in the process of it. Upcoming negotiations will determine the finer details of how Article 6 will shape up, but the broader pressing issue at hand remains the constraint of time in the face of exponentially rising global temperatures.