Robust Accounting of International Transfers under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

The paper analyzes the technical challenges of accounting for internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs) given the diversity of nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It focuses on four primary areas: the definition and scope of ITMOs, methods to avoid double counting through corresponding adjustments, the accounting of mitigation outcomes' vintage relative to target time frames, and the governance of tracking systems. The authors recommend an emissions-based approach to corresponding adjustments and the adoption of common multi-year target periods to prevent increases in aggregated global greenhouse gas emissions.

• The authors recommend that all Parties use an emissions-based approach for corresponding adjustments, where adjustments are applied to the total net GHG emissions level reported in a country's GHG inventory, rather than an emission budget approach, to avoid the risk of transferring 'hot air' (surplus allowances not arising from mitigation action).
• Double claiming occurs when the same emission reduction is counted toward the mitigation targets of both the transferring and acquiring countries; this can be avoided through 'corresponding adjustments' where the transferring country adds the transferred outcome back to its emissions and the acquiring country subtracts it.
• The use of single-year targets (e.g., 2030) instead of multi-year periods increases the risk that aggregated cumulative global GHG emissions will rise, as acquiring countries may pursue higher emissions paths in pre-target years while relying on ITMOs to meet a specific year's goal.
• To address the diversity of first NDCs, the paper suggests several options for handling different Global Warming Potential (GWP) values, including the use of common GWP values for all countries, bilateral agreements on GWP values, or converting corresponding adjustments to reflect GWP differences.
• For countries with non-GHG targets (e.g., renewable energy capacity), robust accounting requires either converting these targets into GHG metrics or applying a pair of corresponding adjustments in different metrics that correspond to the same mitigation outcome.
• The paper identifies four broad approaches for accounting for the vintage of mitigation outcomes: continuous multi-year target periods, single-year targets with ITMOs generated and used only in target years, representative accounting for various time frames (linearizing or averaging), and the establishment of multi-year emission trajectories.
• Tracking ITMOs can be achieved through centralized UN governance (similar to the Kyoto Protocol's International Transaction Log) or decentralized governance where countries report net flows using national registries, linked ETS registries, or crediting mechanism registries.
• To ensure environmental integrity in decentralized systems, the authors suggest providing comprehensive information on ITMOs beyond minimum requirements, including programme standards, the specific mitigation action, and the process for ensuring 'higher ambition' under Article 6.1.

APA

Schneider, L., Füssler, J., Kohli, A., Graichen, J., Healy, S., Cames, M., Broekhoff, D., Lazarus, M., Theuer, S. L. H., & Cook, V. (2017). Robust Accounting of International Transfers under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Robust_accounting_paris_agreement_discussion_paper_28092017.pdf

Chicago

Schneider, Lambert, Jürg Füssler, Anik Kohli, Jakob Graichen, Sean Healy, Martin Cames, Derik Broekhoff, et al. Robust Accounting of International Transfers under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Robust_accounting_paris_agreement_discussion_paper_28092017.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{schneider2017robust, author = {Schneider, Lambert and Füssler, Jürg and Kohli, Anik and Graichen, Jakob and Healy, Sean and Cames, Martin and Broekhoff, Derik and Lazarus, Michael and Theuer, Stephanie La Hoz and Cook, Vanessa}, title = {{Robust Accounting of International Transfers under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Robust_accounting_paris_agreement_discussion_paper_28092017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }