Capacity-building work programme for implementing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Credit: Carlos Ruiz Garvia - UN Climate Change

Procedural background

Acknowledgment of decision 2/CMP.16: CMA 3 appreciated the decision that allocated funds for expediting the implementation of the Article 6.4 mechanism.
Request for a capacity-building programme: CMA 3 requested the secretariat, in consultation with Parties, to design and implement a capacity-building program to assist Parties in voluntarily participating in the Article 6.4 mechanism.
Supervisory Body Feedback: The Supervisory Body provided feedback on the secretariat's capacity-building efforts and requested regular updates.
Concept Note and Implementation: The secretariat prepared a concept note for the Article 6 capacity-building program, which is now being implemented based on the guidance from the Supervisory Body.

Article 6 capacity-building work programme launch at COP 27

After a year of consultation, the road ahead for work under Article 6 comes into focus.

The COP27 UN Climate Change Conference held from 6 to 18 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, opens an opportunity to accelerate action on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement with the launch of a Work Programme that will enable countries to implement cooperative approaches to market solutions.

Decisions in Glasgow on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement outlined specific focus areas for capacity-building for Article 6.2 and Article 6.4. This is important because the relevance of cooperative approaches for NDC implementation has doubled, with the number of countries indicating they plan to use voluntary cooperation increasing from 46% to 85% in new and updated NDCs.

UN Climate Change mitigation division hosted this COP 27 event to launch the Article 6 capacity-building work programme to support the implementation of Article 6. The event served as the official launch of the Article 6 capacity-building work programme and an opportunity for governments and stakeholders to provide inputs to the Work Programme.

Capacity-building for Article 6

The Article 6 capacity-building work programme has been developed to identify institutional needs such as strengthening the infrastructure and knowledge base, ensuring the availability of well-structured information that is easy to understand by all stakeholders, identifying appropriate types of capacity building and enhancing technical capacity for determining baseline, monitoring and reporting.

The Work Programme is designed for implementation over three to five years:

Phase 1 – Focus on awareness raising and readiness of Parties for Article 6 implementation for the first year
Phase 2 – Continuous capacity-building activities over two to four years after successful implementation of Phase 1

Focus areas and achievements

Enhanced Capacity: The secretariat strengthens its resources and onboarding process, including regional experts, to support capacity-building activities.
Staffing for Support: Positions are being filled to provide effective support for capacity-building, including developing strategies and facilitating collaboration.
Collaboration and Partnerships: Collaborative efforts with the Governments and other alliances have been initiated to enhance capacity and knowledge exchange.
Regional Engagement: Workshops, training programs, and webinars are conducted in different regions to promote knowledge-sharing and capacity-building.
Synergy and Coordination: Efforts are made to ensure coherence and coordination with other initiatives and activities, fostering joint planning and collaboration.
Understanding Needs, Technical Assistance, and Knowledge-Sharing:

- Stakeholder Engagement: The secretariat continues efforts to understand stakeholders' capacity-building needs and incorporate feedback into the information note.
- Technical Assistance: Technical workshops and missions are conducted to provide support and address clarifications from stakeholders.
- Knowledge-Sharing: Various initiatives are launched, including online courses, webinars, and training programs, to facilitate knowledge-sharing on Article 6 implementation.

Regional capacity-building resources: Stakeholders can access online courses, training programs, and webinars offered by the secretariat's Regional Collaboration Centers (RCCs) and other organizations.

Resources

Regional Climate Week Redicap trainings on Article 6

The secretariat conducted six hybrid training workshops and one virtual training workshop at the regional level, in conjunction with the regional climate weeks.

The purpose of these workshops is to address the mandates referred to in paragraph 2 above to deliver capacity under Article 6, paragraphs 2 and 4, transition CDM activities to the Article 6.4 mechanism, and address carbon pricing by supporting policymakers in developing price-based and collaborative instruments to achieve ambitious climate action.

The tentative agenda items for this series of capacity-building activities are provided <here>

More information about the Regional Climate Weeks can be found <here>

SBSTA 58 Note by the secretariat

Capacity-building for implementing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Agenda item SBSTA 58:
13. Guidance on cooperative approaches referred to in Article 6, paragraph 2, of the Paris Agreement and in decision 2/CMA.3
14. Rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism established by Article 6, paragraph 4, of the Paris Agreement and referred to in decision 3/CMA.3

This information note covers capacity-building activities undertaken in the reporting period from 11 November 2022 to 18 May 2023 and activities planned to be undertaken under Article 6, paragraph 2, and Article 6, paragraph 4, of the Paris Agreement. The aim is to provide Parties with a regular report on the status of its implementation.

SB 58 side event: Capacity-building work programme to support implementation of Articles 6.2 and 6.4

This event provided the space to share and to discuss experiences and activities related to the implementation of the capacity-building work programme to assist Parties wishing to pursue voluntary cooperation including participation in the mechanism.

Speakers:
Policymakers, technical staff, government officials - Designated National Authorities (DNAs) and public and private sector representatives.

Organizer:
Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Credit: UN Climate Change

SB 58 side event: Status of implementation of the Article 6.4 mechanism

This side event hosted by the Supervisory Body provided information on the implementation status of the Article 6.4 mechanism and inform on the capacity-building work programme launched at COP 27. The event was also an opportunity to hear experts’ views on the mechanism and interact with them.

Credit: UN Climate Change

SB 58 side event: Update on progress and the way forward for the Paris Agreement Article 6 Implementation Partnership

Since the establishment of the Article 6 Implementation Partnership at COP 27, the Partnership has been organizing a number of events and compiling Article 6 related information on the platform.
To this end, this event shared the progress of the work and discuss the potential programms.

Speakers:
Ministry of the Environment, Japan; World Bank; Singapore; Verra; Chile; Sweden; UNDP; OECC.

Organizers:
Overseas Environmental Cooperation Center, Japan (OECC), World Bank Group.

Credit: UN Climate Change

Innovate4Climate (I4C) 2023: Workshop Update on the implementation of the Article 6.4 mechanism

This workshop took place Wednesday 24 May 2023 and provided a platform to discuss capacity-building activities undertaken and planned under Article 6.4, of the Paris Agreement from November 11, 2022, to May 18, 2023. The objective was to offer participants a comprehensive update on the implementation status of these activities, including recent developments on the work of the Supervisory Body.

The workshop and subsequent panel discussions provided an overview of the progress made in implementing capacity-building activities under Article 6.4. The secretariat presented its plans for addressing the mandate referred to in CMA.3 paragraph 2, considering the feedback received from the Supervisory Body mentioned in paragraph 5.

COP 27 side event: Capacity-Building towards Implementing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

COP 27, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt Side Event Room – Akhenaten Friday, 11 November 2022 18:30 – 20:00 (GMT +2)
Opening and objectives Mary Awad Menassa, Senior Climate Action Specialist and Coordinator, RCC MENA and SA	Decisions in Glasgow mandates the UNFCCC through RCCs in consultation with parties and bodies (A.6.4SB) to provide capacity-building. The event was an opportunity to solicit input on the CB implementation workplan prepared by UNFCCC to support parties in the implementation of Article 6. Speakers: UNFCCC secretariat, RCC, DNA, country delegates and international organizations delivering CB on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement Please click below to download the Capacity-building work programme towards implementation of Article 6.2 and 6.4 presentation
Welcome Remarks James Grabert, Director of the Mitigation Division, UN Climate Change
Presentation of the Article 6 capacity-building work programme Perumal Arumugampillai Kalyani, Manager in the Mitigation Division, UN Climate Change
Panel discussion on leveraging existing actions to maximize impact Kazuhisa Koakutsu, Director, Ministry of Environment, Japan Maria AlJishi, International Policy Advisor, Ministry of Energy, Saudi Arabia Luis Panichelli, Technical Advisor, Ministry of Environment, Argentina Albert Magalang, Chief of Climate Change Service, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines Jacqueline Russega, New Zealand
Q&As and closing remarks Perumal Arumugampillai Kalyani, Manager in the Mitigation Division, UN Climate Change

COP 27, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
Side Event Room – Akhenaten
Friday, 11 November 2022
18:30 – 20:00 (GMT +2)

Opening and objectives

Mary Awad Menassa, Senior Climate Action Specialist and Coordinator, RCC MENA and SA

Decisions in Glasgow mandates the UNFCCC through RCCs in consultation with parties and bodies (A.6.4SB) to provide capacity-building.
The event was an opportunity to solicit input on the CB implementation workplan prepared by UNFCCC to support parties in the implementation of Article 6.

Speakers:
UNFCCC secretariat, RCC, DNA, country delegates and international organizations delivering CB on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Please click below to download the Capacity-building work programme towards implementation of Article 6.2 and 6.4 presentation

Welcome Remarks

James Grabert, Director of the Mitigation Division, UN Climate Change

Presentation of the Article 6 capacity-building work programme

Perumal Arumugampillai Kalyani, Manager in the Mitigation Division, UN Climate Change

Panel discussion on leveraging existing actions to maximize impact

Kazuhisa Koakutsu, Director, Ministry of Environment, Japan
Maria AlJishi, International Policy Advisor, Ministry of Energy, Saudi Arabia
Luis Panichelli, Technical Advisor, Ministry of Environment, Argentina
Albert Magalang, Chief of Climate Change Service, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines
Jacqueline Russega, New Zealand

Q&As and closing remarks

Perumal Arumugampillai Kalyani, Manager in the Mitigation Division, UN Climate Change

Article 6 Capacity Building Course COP27

Online Course on Capacity-Building

At COP 27, RCC Kampala partnered with the UN Development Programme to launch an Article 6 Capacity-Building Online Course.

This online course is open to government officials, practitioners and the public. The course provides a foundational understanding needed to build an operational Article 6 framework in every country.

Credit: UN Climate Change

Charting Progress: Stepping Stones in the Paris Agreement Article 6 capacity-building work programme

Dialogues on capacity-building needs for the implementation of Article 6

In line with the Glasgow mandates the UNFCCC through RCCs in consultation with Parties and bodies (A.6.4SB) hosted an event at the margins of the SB56. The event represented an opportunity to share information and solicit input on capacity-building needs to help develop a workplan to support parties in the implementation of Article 6.

Sde event on the Dialogues on capacity-building needs for the implementation of Article 6 - Agenda

RCCs engage on Article 6 capacity-building needs

A series of Regional Dialogues and a survey provide insight into capacity-building needs to ramp up market and non-market approaches under the new Article 6

With the Glasgow Climate Pact adopted, Parties can now shift focus and accelerate implementation. Decisions at COP26 in Glasgow on Article 6 give certainty and predictability to both market and non-market approaches in support of mitigation as well as adaptation. COP26 decisions also elaborated specific focus areas for capacity-building across Article 6.2 and 6.4 and mandated that the secretariat provides capacity-building in developing countries through the Regional Collaboration Centres.
With a focus on regional collaboration and a wide network, the RCCs are ideally positioned to advance this effort. Relevance of cooperative approaches to implement NDCs increased from 46 to 85 percent in new or updated NDCs compared with those previously submitted.
Decisions in Glasgow (Decision 2/CMP.16, paragraph 19) also authorized a transfer of USD $10 million from the Trust Fund for the Clean Development Mechanism to the Trust Fund for Supplementary Activities to support developing country efforts to the Article 6.4 mechanism. In addition, these funds will support transition of clean development mechanism project activities and programmes to the Article 6.4 mechanism if they are eligible for transition.
To fulfill these mandates, the six RCCs hosted three all-virtual Regional Dialogues on Article 6 capacity-building needs from 10 to 12 May for key regions - Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Each Regional Dialogue focused on debriefing stakeholders on COP26 Article 6 outcomes, including the CDM transition, and gathering information on the capacity-building needs of the Parties regarding all aspects of Article 6 and the CDM transition.
Key messages from each of the Regional Dialogues give an idea of topics discussed and reflect key takeaways presented at the Bonn SB56 meeting

Article 6 Capacity-Building Programme

Program Phases: The programme is being implemented, focusing on awareness, readiness, and long-term capacity-building activities.
Reporting and Accountability: Biennial reports are provided to track progress, collect feedback, and ensure accountability.
Objectives: The programme aims to assist Parties in establishing necessary institutional arrangements and developing technical capacity for Article 6 activities.
Planned Activities: Side events, training workshops, and capacity-building webinars are scheduled to address specific mandates and support the transition to the Article 6.4 mechanism.
Collaboration and Coordination: Efforts are underway to collaborate with relevant organizations, ensuring efficient and impactful capacity-building activities.

Next Steps

Continued Inputs and Updates: The secretariat will collect inputs from Parties and regularly update the website with information on Article 6 capacity-building activities.
Scale-Up and Coordination: Implementation efforts, including those through RCCs, will be expanded to maximize the impact of capacity-building activities.
Distinct Information Notes: Separate information notes for Article 6, paragraph 2, and Article 6, paragraph 4, will be produced in the next reporting period to address their unique mandates and financial sources.

Stay connected with our website for the latest updates and developments in capacity-building for implementing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Contact us under: Article-6-Capacity-building@unfccc.int.