New ways for incorporating mitigation contributions into international market mechanisms

The Paris Agreement rests on the many and varied Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by its Parties at various levels of development. It also represents a departure from the Kyoto Protocol, where the mitigation efforts of developed countries were all expressed in terms of a Quantified Emission Limitation and Reduction Objective (QELRO) or emission budgets. The Kyoto approach facilitated accounting, especially with respect to the flexibility mechanisms of International Emissions Trading, Joint Implementation, and the Clean Development Mechanism. In contrast, while the Paris Agreement's Article 6 provides for cooperative approaches and a mechanism to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, such flexibility also poses a challenge to accounting for the achievements of the varied contributions.

Against this background, adelphi, together with Get2C will evaluate and provide input on how robust flexibility mechanisms may be operationalized to be compatible with the range of commitments under the Paris Agreement. The objective of the study is, firstly, to investigate under what conditions submitted INDCs will be compatible with the transfer of mitigation outcomes and an international structure for a global carbon market. Secondly, in the absence of an international accounting framework that provides confidence in addressing the issues outlined above, it is to assess whether the tools mentioned can be developed and applied across a diverse and wide range of commitments to facilitate a global carbon market.

To this end, the project partners will

• analyse the range of commitments put forward by parties, and address how transfers of mitigation outcomes between countries could be facilitated;
• analyse the impact of current and future commitments on existing and future market instruments;
• review current practice in market mechanisms in relation to net mitigation and assess opportunities to address net mitigation through different tools (e.g. baseline methodologies, standardised baselines, performance standards and benchmarks);
• develop a framework for analysing the impact of policies at national and sectoral levels with regard to any proposed and existing mechanism.