Initiative · Policy dialogue Active · convened by Perspectives

II-AMT

International Initiative for Development of Article 6 Methodology Tools

Convening since2021

Climate solutionCarbon Markets · Implementation

Who takes partGovernments, standards and market practitioners

Outputs6 publications and counting

Overview

The International Initiative for Development of Article 6 Methodology Tools (II-AMT) was an international expert-led process designed to align existing baseline and monitoring methodologies with the rules and principles of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Its experts came from every continent, combining regional climate policy and practice with long-standing expertise in methodologies.

Under this initiative, a set of Article 6 methodology tools, covering additionality determination, baseline setting, and MRV, were developed to be added to existing methodologies in a modular fashion. In this way, the initiative aimed to accelerate the implementation of market-based cooperation under Article 6, as methodologies would not need to be developed from scratch.

The initiative went through three phases: conceptualisation, development, and piloting. During piloting, the tools were tested with real carbon market activities, which showed where they applied cleanly and where they needed refinement.

What this initiative works towards

Common methodological ground

Develop transparent, replicable approaches for additionality and baselines that host countries and buyers can both trust.

Open tools, not black boxes

Publish the tools and their assumptions openly so any party can apply, audit and improve them.

Bridge research and negotiation

Feed lessons from real Article 6 pilots back into UNFCCC processes and national frameworks.

Background & rationale

The decision accompanying the Paris Agreement emphasises that international cooperation under Articles 6.2 and 6.4 should build on lessons learnt from the Kyoto Mechanisms, including the CDM. However, as CDM methodologies were developed under the Kyoto Protocol, they do not take into account host countries' Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets, existing mitigation policies, or the need to align mitigation action with the Paris Agreement's long-term goal. Developing entirely new methodologies from scratch would be a costly and time-intensive process. To address this challenge, II-AMT worked to modularise Article 6 requirements, enabling their rapid application to existing methodologies.

What we did

Perspectives Climate Research convened an international expert team to design, develop and test the Article 6 methodology tools. All three phases were completed. The result is a tested suite of tools that can be applied to existing methodologies to bring them in line with Article 6 requirements.

The expert team included Axel Michaelowa (Perspectives Climate Research, Switzerland), Derik Broekhoff (Stockholm Environment Institute, US), Francois Sammut (Carbon Limits, Norway), Jessica Wade-Murphy (Atmosphere Alternative, Colombia), Martha Ntabadde Kasozi (freelance consultant and member of the CDM methodologies panel, Uganda), Paula Macias Diaz (Carbon Limits, Norway), Randall Spalding-Fecher (Carbon Limits, Norway) and Sina Wartmann (independent consultant for MRV and Transparency, Germany).

How it unfolded

Phase I

Conceptualisation

Framing the Article 6 requirements that existing methodologies need to satisfy, and how to modularise them.
Phase II

Development

Drafting the additionality, baseline and MRV tools as modular additions to existing methodologies.
Phase III

Piloting

Testing the tools against real carbon market activities to refine their robustness and usability.