Carbon Market Watch input to SBSTA on matters related to article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Carbon Market Watch argues against the transition of CDM credits to the Paris Agreement era, warning that up to 4 billion "hot air" credits could flood the market. The organization advocates for a clean break from the Kyoto Protocol, requiring all CDM projects to be reassessed against strict quality criteria. To enable climate ambition under Article 6, the submission proposes the use of conservative baselines, an automatic partial cancellation rate of credits to ensure overall global emission reductions, and the restriction of carbon markets to the disbursement of results-based climate finance rather than zero-sum offsetting.

• The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is viewed as a failure in reducing overall emissions, with estimates suggesting 85% of projects and 73% of potential 2013-2020 Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) have a low likelihood of providing additional emission reductions.
• Allowing CDM credits to transition without restrictions could result in over 4 billion "junk" or "hot air" credits entering the market, which would undermine climate goals and harm project developers by depressing prices.
• Carbon Market Watch urges that no credits from Kyoto Protocol mechanisms—including CERs, Emission Reduction Units (ERUs), and Assigned Amount Units (AAUs)—be used toward Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) objectives.
• Any CDM projects or methodologies transitioning to Article 6.4 must undergo a rigorous reassessment based on strict quality criteria to ensure reductions are real, measurable, additional, verifiable, permanent, and do not harm local communities.
• To ensure an overall mitigation in global emissions, the document proposes an automatic partial cancellation rate of credits, preventing a 1-1 compensation for emissions.
• Article 6 instruments should prioritize conservative baselines set well below 'business as usual' (BAU) and avoid 'zero-sum game offsets,' instead using markets to disburse results-based climate finance.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2021). Carbon Market Watch input to SBSTA on matters related to article 6 of the Paris Agreement. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Carbon_Market_Watch_art6_submission_CDM_ambition.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Carbon Market Watch input to SBSTA on matters related to article 6 of the Paris Agreement. 2021. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Carbon_Market_Watch_art6_submission_CDM_ambition.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Carbon Market Watch input to SBSTA on matters related to article 6 of the Paris Agreement |date=June 2021 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Carbon_Market_Watch_art6_submission_CDM_ambition.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2021carbon, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Carbon Market Watch input to SBSTA on matters related to article 6 of the Paris Agreement}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Carbon_Market_Watch_art6_submission_CDM_ambition.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }