Navigating Article 6: Opportunities for the Middle East and North Africa

The report examines how the MENA region can leverage Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to transition from fragmented voluntary carbon markets to a structured international framework. It identifies the region's potential as a supplier of high-quality carbon credits through renewable energy, breakthrough technologies like green hydrogen and CCUS, and natural climate solutions. However, it highlights significant barriers, including a lack of enabling national policies, insufficient infrastructure such as registries and MRV systems, and uncertainty regarding eligible activities. The document recommends establishing regional governance frameworks, enhancing digital transaction infrastructure, and strengthening public-private partnerships to close a regional climate finance gap estimated at $186 billion.

• The MENA region has significant potential to be a major supplier of carbon credits due to its renewable energy resources, receiving 22-26% of all global solar energy and possessing the capacity to supply at least 50% of global electricity consumption.
• There is a substantial climate finance gap in the MENA region, estimated at $186 billion to comply with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), while the region currently receives only about $16 billion in climate finance annually.
• A survey of experts indicates that 94% view the lack of an enabling national policy environment and uncertainty over participation mechanisms as the primary challenges to implementing Article 6 in the region.
• Breakthrough technologies such as green hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), and direct air capture (DAC) are being explored by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Egypt, and Morocco to generate ITMOs and A6.4ERs.
• Natural climate solutions in the region include mangrove forests, reforestation, and afforestation, exemplified by the Middle East Green Initiative's goal to plant 50 billion trees and Oman's goal of 10 million trees.
• Current Article 6 progress in MENA is variable; Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the UAE have bilateral agreements with Japan under the Joint Crediting Mechanism, while Morocco has agreements with Singapore and Switzerland.
• Infrastructure gaps are a major hurdle, with 50% of surveyed stakeholders identifying a lack of national registries or measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems as a barrier.
• Only eight out of 16 analyzed MENA countries have committed to net-zero targets, and the region's per capita annual emissions (13 tCO2e) are among the highest globally.

APA

World Economic Forum (2023). Navigating Article 6: Opportunities for the Middle East and North Africa. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Navigating_Article_6_Opportunities_for_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa_2023.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Navigating Article 6: Opportunities for the Middle East and North Africa. 2023. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Navigating_Article_6_Opportunities_for_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa_2023.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Navigating Article 6: Opportunities for the Middle East and North Africa |date=November 2023 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Navigating_Article_6_Opportunities_for_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa_2023.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2023navigating, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Navigating Article 6: Opportunities for the Middle East and North Africa}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Navigating_Article_6_Opportunities_for_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa_2023.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }