Article 6.4

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement allows countries to increase mitigation ambition and achieve the targets set in their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) through international cooperation.

But actual Article 6 negotiations have focused almost entirely on the creation of carbon markets and carbon crediting programs. This created a new framework for trading carbon credits between countries (Article 6.2) and a global carbon market mechanism (Article 6.4) where countries and businesses can directly purchase credits.

At COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, countries agreed on the broad framework of rules to govern and implement the carbon market mechanism based on Article 6.4 texts. But talks to finalize those rules collapsed two years later amidst accusations of bad-faith negotiation at COP28.

The task of completing the rules was handed to a ‘Supervisory Body’ for ‘developing the requirements and processes needed to operationalize the Paris Agreement [Crediting] Mechanism.’

This includes work on creating a standard to address non-permanence and reversals and the methodologies used to measure them.

At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, some countries, backed by carbon market players, tried to weaken the rules established earlier in the year by the Supervisory Body, for the sake of pragmatism and economic feasibility, but those attempts were rejected.

CLARA works consistently to advance international cooperation on Non-market approaches under Paris Agreement Article 6.8.

Read more about Article 6.8 here and alternatives to carbon markets here.