UN climate arm the UNFCCC has started to develop the registry infrastructure for its two carbon market segments, having awarded the implementation contract to technology solutions provider Trovio, the UNFCCC said today.
In addition to the registries for internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (Itmos) under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, and credits to be issued under Article 6.4's Paris Agreement crediting mechanism (Pacm), the work also covers an "interoperability hub" that will link national and international registry systems.
Under Article 6.2, countries can sign bilateral agreements to generate Itmos. Typically, carbon mitigation activities will be carried out in a host country financed by a country providing the finance, the latter counting the achieved mitigation outcome to its climate target or nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the Paris deal.
Countries already active under Article 6.2, such as Switzerland, have said they will transfer the Itmos they acquire from their national registry to the international registry once it is up and running.
The Pacm is broadly a successor to the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM), which will close at the end of this year. The last CDM credits will be issued in June, and transferred or cancelled in December.
The interoperability hub will secure data exchange between national and international systems, the UNFCCC said. This will enable "transparency, integrity, and compatibility across global carbon market infrastructure", it said.
The new systems will constitute the "backbone of the Article 6 digital ecosystem, enabling countries to securely track, authorise and transfer mitigation outcomes in line with the requirements of the Paris Agreement", the UNFCCC said.
Concerns had been raised at the UN Cop 30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, in November, that the severe funding shortfall would delay the development of the registries. The shortfall for Article 6.2 was put at $22.1mn, prompting calls for voluntary contributions.
And it was agreed at Cop 30 to transfer the remaining $26.8mn in the CDM to Pacm, to be repaid to the CDM's Adaptation Fund once Pacm is self-funding.
Pacm made substantial progress in 2025, allowing for the implementation of the first new projects, as opposed to ones transitioned from the CDM, next year. The first five reviews of Article 6.2's co-operative approaches were also completed. The reviews exposed some inconsistencies, a topic that will be debated at the UN's Cop 31 summit in Turkey this year.
