While much of the Paris Agreement focuses on national climate commitments, Article 6 provides a crucial, but technically complex, framework for voluntary international cooperation in achieving climate goals.
It opens the door for cross-border carbon trading, collaborative mitigation efforts, and non-market approaches, aiming to increase ambition and reduce costs through shared action.
After years of negotiation, the rules governing Article 6 were finalized at COP26 in Glasgow (2021), with further technical guidance added in subsequent COPs. As of 2025, countries are beginning to operationalize these mechanisms, making Article 6 one of the most dynamic and consequential components of the Paris architecture.
What is Article 6?
Article 6 is widely seen as a lever for increasing global ambition that enables countries to meet their climate targets more cost-effectively. It mobilizes private investment in mitigation projects, improve cost-efficiency reducing government burden of decarbonization, facilities technology transfer, and encourages standardization of carbon accounting practices across countries.
Article 6 outlines three distinct pathways for cooperation:
1. Article 6.2: Bilateral or Multilateral Transfers
This allows countries to transfer emissions reductions, known as Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs), toward their own or another country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). These can take the form of emissions reductions from projects, policies, or entire sectors.
Key features:
- Requires robust accounting to avoid double counting.
- Allows for various forms of cooperation, including linked emissions trading systems.
- Encourages broader climate finance and technology transfer.
2. Article 6.4: Global Carbon Market
This establishes a UN-supervised international carbon crediting mechanism. Under Article 6.4, both public and private actors can implement projects that generate verified emissions reductions, which can then be sold as credits.
Key features:
- Managed by a supervisory body under the UNFCCC.
- Includes a centralized registry, standardized methodologies, and oversight.
- Aims to contribute to global emissions reductions, not just offsetting.
- Includes a “share of proceeds” to support adaptation in developing countries.
3. Article 6.8: Non-Market Approaches
Recognizing that not all climate cooperation involves carbon trading, Article 6.8 encourages non-market strategies such as:
- Technology sharing
- Policy coordination
- Capacity building
- Results-based finance
These approaches are especially relevant for adaptation, where outcomes are often harder to quantify and commodify but critical for resilience.
Challenges
While Article 6 offers enormous potential, it also raises complex implementation challenges:
- Environmental integrity: Ensuring that emissions reductions are real, additional, and permanent is a major concern. Weak baselines or flawed methodologies could undermine climate goals.
- Double counting: Credited emissions must be transparently accounted for through corresponding adjustments, a process requiring strong national inventories and coordination.
- Impact on ambition: If used as a substitute rather than a complement to domestic action, Article 6 could weaken pressure on countries to decarbonize their own economies.
- Nature-based solutions (NbS): The inclusion of forestry and land-use credits requires careful oversight to address permanence, leakage, and biodiversity trade-offs.
The Environment Consultant 