Baseline and monitoring methodologies for HFC mitigation action

Activities realized in the context of international carbon markets through a baseline and credit mechanism need to apply stringent methodologies in order to determine the emission reductions achieved. These methodologies are crucial to guarantee environmental integrity of emissions credits issued. With respect to the refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) sector, existing methodologies under the Clean Development Mechanism and voluntary carbon markets cover the improvement of energy efficiency in cooling equipment and the reduction of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions. However, these methodologies do not cover all relevant activity types and need to be assessed and possibly adapted in order to ensure consistency with key principles of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Based on a gap assessment of existing methodologies the study provides considerations and recommendations for baseline and monitoring methodology development for RAC sector specific Article 6 activities which target both, refrigerant- and energy-related emissions.