Integrating Human Rights in the Modalities Related to Carbon Markets Established under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

This briefing note by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) argues for the integration of human rights, social safeguards, public participation, and independent grievance mechanisms into the rules and modalities of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. It highlights the risks of environmental and social harm associated with carbon markets and draws on failures of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism to advocate for a rights-based approach to climate governance.

• Negotiations on the rules, modalities, and procedures for Article 6 of the Paris Agreement—specifically regarding internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs), the Sustainable Development Mechanism, and non-market approaches—remain incomplete and heavily contested heading into COP25.
• The author identifies three essential components required to protect human rights within Article 6 activities: the establishment of social and environmental safeguards, the guarantee of public participation, and the creation of an independent grievance redress process.
• Current draft texts for Article 6 show varying levels of human rights integration: Article 6.2 mentions human rights obligations; Article 6.4 includes references to human rights and grievance redress but remains heavily bracketed; and Article 6.8 (non-market approaches) contains no explicit mentions of human rights or social safeguards.
• The briefing cites the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol as a cautionary example, noting that a lack of safeguards led to severe human rights abuses, such as the displacement of indigenous peoples without consent at the Barro Blanco dam in Panama.
• The Alto Maipo hydropower project in Chile is cited as another example of climate-related projects causing human rights violations, specifically impacting rights to water, food, life, health, adequate housing, and a healthy environment.
• The document advocates for the requirement of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for indigenous peoples and emphasizes that stakeholder consultation must be a meaningful process with access to information and protection from retaliation, rather than a 'check-the-box exercise'.
• The author argues that an independent, rights-based, and transparent grievance mechanism is necessary for Article 6 to provide access to justice and remedy for communities harmed by climate mitigation projects, a feature that was notably absent in the CDM.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2019). Integrating Human Rights in the Modalities Related to Carbon Markets Established under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BriefingNote_RightsInArticle6.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Integrating Human Rights in the Modalities Related to Carbon Markets Established under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. 2019. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BriefingNote_RightsInArticle6.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Integrating Human Rights in the Modalities Related to Carbon Markets Established under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement |date=November 2019 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BriefingNote_RightsInArticle6.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2019integrating, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Integrating Human Rights in the Modalities Related to Carbon Markets Established under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BriefingNote_RightsInArticle6.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }