Article 6 Piloting: State of Play and Stakeholder Experiences

This report is the 3rd edition of a series started in 2019 and provides an updated overview of all aspects related to the piloting and operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Despite the continued uncertainty regarding the finalization of the Article 6 rules, practical Article 6 piloting is continuing apace and the landscape of Article 6 piloting initiatives evolves.

Testing how Article 6 cooperation could work in practice in order to inform negotiations as well as getting early access to sources of emissions credits is seen as important to fulfill national mitigation commitments.  As a framework for the analysis in our study, we apply a ‘concentric ring’ model that clearly differentiates between piloting activities that aim at generating Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) or adaptation benefits (ABs), initiatives that will eventually be governed by Article 6 rules and the enabling environment, which is essential to drive piloting efforts forward.

In an additional analytical step, we classify piloting activities in the inner circle according to three different phases: the preparatory phase, the pilot phase and the full implementation phase. Moreover, we summarise current stakeholder experiences with Article 6 piloting and provide an overview of our insights from broad and deep stakeholder consultations, including the views of buyer countries, host countries and publication developers.