Ministers hesitant on Article 6 'bridging'

Climate ministers were divided on the suitability of "bridging proposals" put forward at recent informal talks ahead of November's UN climate summit Cop 26 to find a resolution to disputes on Article 6 of the Paris climate agreement.

The UK government this week published further details on the talks, which took place in London on 25-26 July.

It said that ministers acknowledged that a compromise will be needed to reach a consensus on Article 6, which is designed to enable voluntary international co-operation on climate action. It presents the possibility of trading emissions reductions between countries and could provide the foundations for an international carbon market.

Disagreements on how to govern the practice have prevented a deal being reached on the relevant rules, and finding a resolution to this will be one of the key aspects of Cop 26.

But divisions persisted along familiar lines at July's meeting, where participants discussed possible "bridging proposals" on aspects including avoiding double counting of emissions savings under Article 6.4, allowing the use of carbon credits generated before 2020 to meet nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and committing Article 6.2 revenues to climate change adaptation.

While some ministers welcomed the bridging proposals in their current form, "others indicated reservations and suggested that further work would be required if the options were to be further considered", the government said.

This included calls from some ministers to add safeguards to the proposals put forward on double counting, "to reduce the risk of perverse incentives against the expansion of NDCs and to increase transparency".

And some raised concerns about the environmental integrity of a proposal to allow a limited number of carbon credits generated pre-2020 to count towards NDC targets. But others argued that the practice would help preserve investor confidence.

Ministers did agree that it would be beneficial to understand the potential impact of bringing various numbers of credits forward. And they discussed the possibility of other compromises, such as placing these carryover credits into a reserve.

There "remains no clear bridging option" for using Article 6 proceeds to contribute to climate change adaptation, the government said.

Many ministers backed assigning an obligatory share of Article 6.2 proceeds to such action, while some continued to support the option put forward at the previous UN climate summit — 2019's Cop 25 in Madrid — of coupling voluntary encouragement with mandatory reporting. But this approach is viewed by others as not guaranteeing predictable finance. And some ministers view the question as outside Article 6.2's mandate altogether.

Singapore and Norway's climate ministers have committed to continuing informal Article 6 consultations with other ministers ahead of this year's conference.

By Victoria Hatherick