Cooperative Implementation

Credit: Kiara Worth, IISD

Background

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement recognizes that some Parties choose to pursue voluntary cooperation in the implementation of their nationally determined contributions to allow for higher ambition in their mitigation and adaptation actions and to promote sustainable development and environmental integrity.
Decision 1/CP.21 mandated the SBSTA to operationalize the provisions of this Article through recommending a set of decisions to the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement at its first session.

Recent developments

In accordance with decision 8/CMA.1 the SBSTA continued its work on Article 6.

While considerable progress was made on many issues under negotiation, CMA.2 was unable to reach consensus and decision 9/CMA.2 requested the SBSTA to continue its work in 2020.

Informal consultations on Article 6

The COP 25 Presidency and the COP 26 incoming-Presidency held informal consultations as shown below:

Monday, 29 March 2021 at 10:00 - 12:00 (GMT): Multilateral consultations with Group Chairs and Heads of Delegation on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement Tuesday, 30 March 2021 at 00:00 - 02:00 (GMT): Multilateral consultations with Group Chairs and Heads of Delegation on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement Co-chairs’ summary

Monday, 29 March 2021 at 10:00 - 12:00 (GMT): Multilateral consultations with Group Chairs and Heads of Delegation on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Tuesday, 30 March 2021 at 00:00 - 02:00 (GMT): Multilateral consultations with Group Chairs and Heads of Delegation on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Co-chairs’ summary

The SBSTA Chair will hold informal technical expert dialogues on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement as shown below. The SBSTA Chair would encourage submissions by Parties and admitted observer organizations by the date indicated below.

Concept note

Date and time	Topic	Submission date
19 April 2021 13:00-16:00 ( CEST)	Financing for adaptation/Share of Proceeds (Article 6.2 and 6.4) Guiding Questions: For delivery of a share of proceeds for adaptation to the Adaptation Fund from the mechanism, should we refine the approach used for the CDM per the third Presidency text at COP25, and if so, how, or are there other approaches that may work more effectively? In relation to cooperative approaches, what could be the design that could recognize that cooperative approaches will not necessarily lead to transferable units? What degree of encouragement/requirement and transparency?	1 April 2021 Submissions received
20 April 2021 23:00-02:00 (CEST)	Avoiding double use for outside the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) for Article 6.4 Guiding Questions: If first transfers of 6.4 units from outside the NDC were not required to be subject to corresponding adjustment, how could Parties ensure double use is avoided? What information would host Parties need to provide and when? Should there be a transition period for first transfers of 6.4 units from outside the NDC during which a corresponding adjustment is not required and if so, how long would that period be? Could there be an approach to avoiding double use for first transfers of 6.4 units from the perspective of use-restrictions (e.g. no use towards an NDC)?	1 April 2021 Submissions received
20 May 2021 23:00-02:00 (CEST) 21 May 2021 13:00-16:00 (CEST)	Ensuring rapid operationalization (Articles 6.2, 6.4, and 6.8) Guiding Questions: Given the delay in adopting decisions on Article 6 and assuming an outcome on Article 6 in Glasgow, rapid operationalization from 2022 may be necessary. 6.2: How could Parties advance work on the outlines for reporting and review guidelines for the Article 6 technical expert review so that they are available in 2022? How could infrastructure development and operationalization be accelerated? 6.4: How could the mechanism be started rapidly? What work could be undertaken by the Supervisory Body rather than the SBSTA in order to speed up operationalization and what would be the priorities for the Supervisory Body? 6.8: What would be needed to ensure rapid implementation of work programme activities for non-market approaches? What could be the timelines under the work programme?	1 May 2021
11 June 2021 - time TBC	Enabling ambition in Article 6 instruments	1 June 2021
14 June 2021 - time TBC	Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) activity transition to Article 6.4 mechanism	1 June 2021

Note: Other Article 6 Paris Agreement topics to be covered during 2021 (third quarter) include implementing overall mitigation in global emissions in the 6.4 mechanism, use of Kyoto Protocol units towards NDCs, reporting and accounting for GHG and non GHG in 6.2. Submissions on these topics will be encouraged in due course.

UN Climate Change Dialogues 2020 (Climate Dialogues)

The SBSTA Chair held two informal events during the Climate Dialogues as shown below:

24 November 2020 at 14:30-16:30 (CEST): Dialogue on outstanding Article 6 issues: informal meeting of the SBSTA Chair with Heads of Delegation and regional Coordinators

26 November 2020 at 14:00-16:00 (CEST): Baselines and additionality in the 6.4 mechanism: informal meeting of Article 6 experts

Reference documents from 2019

Session	Document
SBSTA 51 (December 2019, Madrid, Spain)	Decision 9/CMA.2 Guidance on cooperative approaches DT.CMA2.i11a.v3 (third iteration, 15 December) DT.CMA2.i11a.v2 (second iteration, 14 December) DT.CMA2.i11a.v1 (first iteration, 13 December) Rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism: DT.CMA2.i11b.v3 (third iteration, 15 December) DT.CMA2.i11b.v2 (second iteration, 14 December) DT.CMA2.i11b.v1 (first iteration, 13 December) Work programme under the framework on non-market approaches: DT.CMA2.i11c.v3 (third iteration, 15 December) DT.CMA2.i11c.v2 (second iteration, 14 December) DT.CMA2.i11c.v1 (first iteration, 13 December) The SBSTA 51 continued consideration of draft decision texts on agenda items 12(a), 12(b) and 12(c), and forwarded to CMA.2 the draft decision texts in its conclusions contained in documents (9 December 2019): FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.16 FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.17 FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.18 Third iteration text (9 December) DT.SBSTA51.i12a.3 DT.SBSTA51.i12b.3 DT.SBSTA51.i12c.3
SBSTA 50 (June 2019, Bonn, Germany)	Conclusions: Agenda items 11(a): FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.9 Agenda items 11(b): FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.10 Agenda items 11(c): FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.11 Draft decision text for consideration at SBSTA 51 (December 2019): Guidance on cooperative approaches: SBSTA50.DT.i11a; Rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism: SBSTA50.DT.i11b; Work programme under the framework on non-market approaches: SBSTA50.DT.i11c.

Session

Document

SBSTA 51
(December 2019,
Madrid, Spain)

Decision 9/CMA.2

Guidance on cooperative approaches

DT.CMA2.i11a.v3 (third iteration, 15 December)
DT.CMA2.i11a.v2 (second iteration, 14 December)
DT.CMA2.i11a.v1 (first iteration, 13 December)

Rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism:

DT.CMA2.i11b.v3 (third iteration, 15 December)
DT.CMA2.i11b.v2 (second iteration, 14 December)
DT.CMA2.i11b.v1 (first iteration, 13 December)

Work programme under the framework on non-market approaches:

DT.CMA2.i11c.v3 (third iteration, 15 December)
DT.CMA2.i11c.v2 (second iteration, 14 December)
DT.CMA2.i11c.v1 (first iteration, 13 December)

The SBSTA 51 continued consideration of draft decision texts on agenda items 12(a), 12(b) and 12(c), and forwarded to CMA.2 the draft decision texts in its conclusions contained in documents (9 December 2019):

Third iteration text (9 December)

SBSTA 50
(June 2019,
Bonn, Germany)

Conclusions:

Agenda items 11(a): FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.9
Agenda items 11(b): FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.10
Agenda items 11(c): FCCC/SBSTA/2019/L.11

Draft decision text for consideration at SBSTA 51 (December 2019):

Guidance on cooperative approaches: SBSTA50.DT.i11a;
Rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism: SBSTA50.DT.i11b;
Work programme under the framework on non-market approaches: SBSTA50.DT.i11c.

Reference documents from 2018

Session	Document
SBSTA 49/COP 24/CMA 1-3 (December 2018, Katowice, Poland)	Decision Decision 8/CMA.1 14 December 2018 FCCC/CP/2018/L.28 The Katowice Texts: Proposal by the President President's textual proposal (12 December 2018) Guidance on cooperative approaches Rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism Work programme under the framework on non-market approaches Draft text (8 December 2018) PAWP draft conclusions proposed by the Chair Guidance on cooperative approaches Rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism Work programme under the framework on non-market approaches Pre-sessional work Presiding officers joint reflections note (15 October 2018) APA-SBSTA-SBI.2018.Informal.2
SBSTA 49 Inter-sessional work	Joint reflections note by the Presiding Officers of the APA, SBSTA and SBI (15 October 2018) APA-SBSTA-SBI.2018.Informal.2.Add.2
SBSTA 48.2 (September 2018, Bangkok, Thailand	Adopted conclusion FCCC/SBSTA/2018/L.16 Draft decision text (9 December 2018): Guidance on cooperative approaches: SBSTA48.2.DT.i12a SBSTA48.2.DT.i12a.Corr Rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism: SBSTA48.2.DT.i12b SBSTA48.2.DT.i12b.Corr Work programme under the framework on non-market approaches: SBSTA48.2.DT.i12c SBSTA48.2.DT.i12c.Corr Reorganized informal note SBSTA48.2.IN_.i12a SBSTA48.2.IN_.i12b SBSTA48.2.IN_.i12c
SBSTA 48 (May 2018, Bonn, Germany)	Conclusions FCCC/SBSTA/2018/L.12 FCCC/SBSTA/2018/L.13 FCCC/SBSTA/2018/L.14 Informal notes prepared by the co-chairs Second (Edited) version at 17:00, 8 May 2018 SBSTA48.Informal.5.v2ed SBSTA48.Informal.6.v2ed SBSTA48.Informal.7.v2ed Second version at 17:00, 8 May 2018 SBSTA48.Informal.5v2 SBSTA48.Informal.6.v2 SBSTA48.Informal.7.v2 First version of 8 May 2018 SBSTA48.Informal.5 SBSTA48.Informal.6 SBSTA48.Informal.7 Pre-sessional work: Informal documents prepared by SBSTA Chair (16 March 2018) SBSTA48.Informal.2 SBSTA48.Informal.3 SBSTA48.Informal.4

Reference documents from 2017

Session	Documents
SBSTA 47 (November 2017, Fiji / Bonn, Germany)	Conclusions FCCC/SBSTA/2017/L.26 FCCC/SBSTA/2017/L.27 FCCC/SBSTA/2017/L.28 Informal note by the co-chairs: Third iteration note (12 November 2017) Agenda item 11(a) Agenda item 11(b) Agenda item 11(c) Second iteration note (10 November 2017) Agenda item 11(a) Agenda item 11(b) Agenda item 11(c) First iteration note (6 November 2017) Agenda item 11(a) Agenda item 11(b) Agenda item 11(c) In-session event (4-5 November 2017) Round Table discussions among Parties
SBSTA 46 (May 2017, Bonn, Germany)	Conclusions FCCC/SBSTA/2017/L.15 FCCC/SBSTA/2017/L.16 FCCC/SBSTA/2017/L.17 Informal information note by the Co-Facilitators (17 May 2017) Agenda item 10(a) Agenda item 10(b) Agenda item 10(c) In-session event (8-9 May 2017 ) Round Table discussions among Parties

Session

Documents

SBSTA 47
(November 2017,
Fiji / Bonn, Germany)

Conclusions

Informal note by the co-chairs:

Third iteration note (12 November 2017)

Agenda item 11(a)
Agenda item 11(b)
Agenda item 11(c)

Second iteration note (10 November 2017)

Agenda item 11(a)
Agenda item 11(b)
Agenda item 11(c)

First iteration note (6 November 2017)

Agenda item 11(a)
Agenda item 11(b)
Agenda item 11(c)

In-session event (4-5 November 2017)

Round Table discussions among Parties

SBSTA 46
(May 2017,
Bonn, Germany)

Conclusions

Informal information note by the Co-Facilitators (17 May 2017)

Agenda item 10(a)
Agenda item 10(b)
Agenda item 10(c)

In-session event (8-9 May 2017 )

Round Table discussions among Parties

Reference documents from 2016

Session	Document
SBSTA 45 (November 2016, Marrakech, Morocco)	Conclusions FCCC/SBSTA/2016/L.28 FCCC/SBSTA/2016/L.29 FCCC/SBSTA/2016/L.30
SBSTA 44 (May 2016, Bonn, Germany)	Conclusions FCCC/SBSTA/2016/L.11 FCCC/SBSTA/2016/L.12 FCCC/SBSTA/2016/L.13 Co-facilitators’ note (21 May 2016) Agenda item 11(a) Agenda item 11(b) Agenda item 11(c)

Session

Document

SBSTA 45
(November 2016,
Marrakech, Morocco)

Conclusions

SBSTA 44
(May 2016,
Bonn, Germany)

Conclusions

Co-facilitators’ note (21 May 2016)

Submissions - informal technical expert dialogues on Article 6 of the…

The SBSTA Chair encouraged submissions by Parties and admitted observer…

Informal consultations on Article 6

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