Swedish Energy Agency and Global Green Growth Institute partner to establish Article 6 Activities

By GGGI Reprint | | Print |

Dec 4 2019 - MADRID – 4th December 2019 – Today, the Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) signed a cooperation agreement on the sidelines of COP25 to launch the Mobilizing Article 6 Trading Structures (MATS) Program, a pilot project aimed at establishing Article 6 Activities under the Paris Agreement. The objective of this joint collaboration is to catalyze international trading of mitigation outcomes in support of the increased climate ambitions needed under the Paris Agreement. 

Under the agreement, SEA and GGGI will work to identify and structure mitigation activities and support the establishment of  governance frameworks within host countries as required under the developing rulebook of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, with the goal of completing transactions of internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs). How countries count the transfer of carbon credits (known as ITMOs) toward mitigation targets is crucial to avoiding double counting.

Although specific rules related to cooperative approaches under Article 6 have yet to be codified, Article 6 aims at supporting the authorization of international emissions trades while avoiding double counting and ensuring environmental integrity, permitting the movement of the related emission reductions between registries, and better linking national emission trading schemes, project-level transactions, and cooperative approaches.

“The Swedish Energy Agency is committed to supporting the global effort to reduce emissions to meet the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals and contribute to its implementation. As part of that commitment SEA is working hard to usher in a new wave of national and sectoral scale mitigation activities. With everything we have learned during the Kyoto Period, we feel that we have a lot to offer in terms of knowledge and lessons learned to be pioneers in the post 2020 period. We are thrilled to partner with GGGI in order to achieve common goals and overcome some of the inevitable challenges faced by early actors,” said Robert Andrén, Director General of the Swedish Energy Agency.

The SEA-GGGI MATS program takes a holistic approach towards supporting countries to refine existing – or create new, institutional frameworks, to make them Article 6 compliant and assess the mitigation potential of activities, and test the design of the framework through practical authorization of ITMO transactions under Mitigation Outcome Purchase Agreements (MOPAs).

 “GGGI is delighted to partner with SEA on this pioneering journey to help countries achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The MATS program, a new priority area of work, will build on GGGI’s technical assistance   with Member and partners to support their achievement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and further increase ambition through readiness activities, accessing climate finance and establishing Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems. Through its model of being embedded within government and working with partners, we feel that GGGI is well positioned to deliver the program in collaboration with SEA; leveraging on their wealth of experience in carbon markets,” said Susanne Pedersen, GGGI’s Assistant Director-General  and Head of Investment and Policy Services Division (IPSD).

The 3-year partnership builds on SEA’s work in developing capacity in low- and middle-income countries to implement mitigation activities bilaterally and via multilateral engagements.  Virtual pilots have been developed in a number of countries and core issues such as additionality, pricing, corresponding adjustments, and attribution have been studied in recent years. The MATS program was initiated and launched with intentions of building on this work to achieve implementable activities that produce transactable mitigation outcomes, which will be identified jointly by GGGI and SEA and then be developed against the emerging rulebook of Article 6. In addition, governance frameworks will be developed to establish sustainable mechanisms to allow approval of further transactions. Finally, activity stakeholders will establish the underlying architecture needed for successful signing of MOPAs and activity implementation.

GGGI is already engaged on Article 6-related activities with several donors, working with the Ministry of Climate and Environment of Norway on wider policy approaches and identifying potential transactions for the Klik Foundation program for Switzerland.

About SEA

SEA supports the Swedish Government and Society as well as external actors with facts, knowledge, and analysis of supply and use of energy in Sweden.  SEA provides funding for research on new and renewable energy technologies, smart grids, as well as vehicles and transport fuels. SEA also supports business development that promotes commercialisation of energy related innovations and ensures that promising cleantech solutions can be exported.  Official energy statistics, and the management of instruments such as the Electricity Certificate System and the EU Emission Trading System, are part of SEA’s responsibility.

Furthermore, SEA has long been the home of Sweden’s CDM and JI program; and is now actively participating in international climate collaborations under the Paris Agreement.

About GGGI

Based in Seoul, GGGI is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization that supports developing country governments transition to a model of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. GGGI delivers programs for 33 Members and partners – in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific – with technical support, capacity building, policy planning and implementation, and by helping to build a pipeline of bankable green investment projects. To learn more about GGGI, see http://www.gggi.org and follow us on Facebook , Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.