Ensuring Environmental Integrity under Article 6 Mechanisms
Ensuring environmental integrity is recognized as an important goal under Article 6. This paper examines factors that affect environmental integrity under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and identifies practical approaches for implementing the co...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/165801617686710981/Ensuring-Environmental-Integrity-under-Article-6-Mechanisms http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35393 |
| Summary: | Ensuring environmental integrity is
recognized as an important goal under Article 6. This paper
examines factors that affect environmental integrity under
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and identifies practical
approaches for implementing the concept based on lessons
learned from the World Bank’s pilot activities and feedback
from stakeholders in pilot countries. The starting point is
the commonly accepted definition that environmental
integrity is ensured as long as global greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions do not increase as a result of transfers of
mitigation outcomes (MOs) (when compared to the scenario
where such transfers did not take place). Under the Kyoto
protocol, not all countries had mitigation obligations. In
contrast, the Paris Agreement requires all countries to
voluntarily adopt individual targets, articulated in their
nationally determined contribution (NDC). This effectively
introduces a national commitment or emissions cap for the
entire economy or for the sectors covered by the NDC. This
means that the transfer of MOs will affect the host
country’s ability to achieve its own NDC if decisions
related to such transfers do not take into account the need
for corresponding adjustments and the opportunity cost of
making such adjustments. In this context, ensuring
environmental integrity - transferring MOs without affecting
the country’s ability to meet its NDC and ensuring that such
transfers do not lead to an increase in global GHG emissions
- requires the assessment of two aspects: (1) stringency of
NDC compared to business as usual (BAU): whether the
country’s emissions cap or NDC is stringent enough and its
targeted GHG emissions are not higher than what will be
expected under business as usual (BAU) conditions; and (2)
unit quality: whether the volume of transferred MOs
generated from a mitigation activity is accurately
calculated by setting a stringent or conservative baseline. |
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