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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Main Author: World Bank
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/165801617686710981/Ensuring-Environmental-Integrity-under-Article-6-Mechanisms
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35393
id okr-10986-35393
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-353932021-06-14T09:53:47Z Ensuring Environmental Integrity under Article 6 Mechanisms World Bank ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY CLIMATE CHANGE EMISSIONS TRADING CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENT GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS CLEAN AIR CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION CARBON MARKET NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS PARIS AGREEMENT 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. 2021-04-07T15:52:11Z 2021-04-07T15:52:11Z 2021-04-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/165801617686710981/Ensuring-Environmental-Integrity-under-Article-6-Mechanisms http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35393 English Article 6 Approach Paper Series;No. 1 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY
CLIMATE CHANGE
EMISSIONS TRADING
CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENT
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
CLEAN AIR
CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION
CARBON MARKET
NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS
PARIS AGREEMENT
spellingShingle ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY
CLIMATE CHANGE
EMISSIONS TRADING
CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENT
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
CLEAN AIR
CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION
CARBON MARKET
NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS
PARIS AGREEMENT
World Bank
Ensuring Environmental Integrity under Article 6 Mechanisms
relation Article 6 Approach Paper Series;No. 1
description 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.
format Working Paper
author World Bank
author_facet World Bank
author_sort World Bank
title Ensuring Environmental Integrity under Article 6 Mechanisms
title_short Ensuring Environmental Integrity under Article 6 Mechanisms
title_full Ensuring Environmental Integrity under Article 6 Mechanisms
title_fullStr Ensuring Environmental Integrity under Article 6 Mechanisms
title_full_unstemmed Ensuring Environmental Integrity under Article 6 Mechanisms
title_sort ensuring environmental integrity under article 6 mechanisms
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2021
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/165801617686710981/Ensuring-Environmental-Integrity-under-Article-6-Mechanisms
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35393
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