UN climate negotiators are content to leave the current rules for Article 6 of the Paris agreement in place until 2028, despite concerns about "inconsistencies" that have been found in initial reports from countries wanting to use carbon credits to meet their goals.
Instead, new guidance for report reviewers and countries might help cut down on the issues, according to two Article 6 negotiators at the UN Cop 31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey.
"There is no appetite at this Cop, and it wouldn't be in line with our [previous Cop] decisions," said Simon Fellermeyer, policy advisor in Switzerland's Federal Office for the Environment, during an International Emissions Trading Association event on Wednesday.
Switzerland is one of the leading users of international carbon offset credits under Article 6.2, which are known as internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (Itmos). The country has 16 bilateral agreements in place to date.
UN negotiators finalised the Article 6 rulebook two years ago at Cop 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, with an agreement not to revisit it until 2028.
A review undertaken by the UN found a range of issues, such as insufficient baselines and a lack of alignment between carbon activities and countries' climate plans, or nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
Fellermeyer said he is not yet concerned by the inconstancies, which could just be signs of growing pains as Article 6 markets develop and the review processes mature.
"There are a lot of inconsistencies," he said, adding that hearing about them raises questions about whether there is something wrong with the system. "I think it's too early to tell", he said.
Better guidance for reviewers could help cut down on any potential issues, according to Cristina Figueroa, carbon markets coordinator with Chile's environment ministry.
"I completely agree with Simon, we don't need to reopen the rulebook of Article 6 now, but we still need more clarity of guidelines to the reviewers on what we will weigh", she said.
For example, there is still some uncertainty about what is considered an inconsistency, according to Figueroa, who said that recommendations for improving the process have been marked as such by reviewers.
Outside groups, though, say the issues are much more concerning, as certain errors or missing information could undermine the credibility of the emissions reductions authorized by countries for use in Article 6 as well that of their NDCs.
"This goes beyond trivial errors", Isa Mulder of Carbon Market Watch told negotiators earlier this week during an Article 6 dialogue at the Cop.
The group has made a number of recommendations to improve the process, such as having parties submit their reports before Itmo authorisation to allow for corrections that would be difficult to make after authorization.
