UNFCC: Supervisory Body Submits Recommendations on Article 6.4 Mechanism to Parties in Sharm el-Sheikh

The Supervisory Body overseeing the Article 6.4 mechanism of the Paris Agreement closed its third meeting in the early hours of 6 November, having finalized its recommendations regarding carbon removals for consideration by the Parties.

Despite intense work and efforts, the second element, pertaining to recommendations on requirements for methodologies, could not be completed at this meeting.

“The real challenge is not so much to deliver the work, but to deliver it in a way that ensures the mechanism has the highest level of integrity and reliability, while still being as practical and easy to use as possible, and for the Supervisory Body to provide this as fast as possible,” said the Supervisory Body Vice-Chair, Piotr Dombrowicki (Poland), who facilitated the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The work on the issue of carbon removals and methodologies are highly complex. They have advanced in Sharm el-Sheikh, and will continue next year.

Among many other topics addressed in the meeting, the Terms of Reference for experts supporting Article 6.4 in the areas of accreditation, methodologies and climate policies were adopted. The call for experts will be launched shortly (please monitor the Supervisory Body’s website).

Furthermore the Supervisory Body updated its report to Parties at COP27 (CMA4), as well as its workplan and adopted its resource allocation plan for 2023 (all documents are available on the Supervisory Body meeting page).

There was agreement on the focus of the Supervisory Body’s side event at COP27, “Transparency and Expectations from our Stakeholders.” This will take place from 18:30 to 20:00 (EET, GMT +2) on Wednesday, 9 November 2022 in side-event room “Thebes” in the blue zone. The event will be livestreamed here.

Last week, the Body also held an initial discussion on elements of a vision for publicly communicating about Article 6.4 and ensuring transparency, accountability, accessibility and ease of use of the mechanism. It was agreed that the unique features of the mechanism and the context within which it will operate, demanding it to be fit for the Paris era, will feed into future discussions on that vision, to be developed at upcoming meetings.

Five meetings are now tentatively scheduled for 2023, the first of which is planned to take place from 7 to 10 March at the UN Climate Change secretariat in Bonn, Germany. Observers wishing to follow that meeting need to register by 14 February. Any change will be communicated, as appropriate.

The Supervisory Body is tasked with building a market mechanism that assists in delivering the Paris Agreement goals, attracting investment in the development of high-quality activities, facilitating a broad participation of governments, the private sector and civil society alike, while enabling further ambition by host Parties.