Enviro News Asia, Bonn — Efforts to operationalize the Paris Agreement’s new carbon market accelerated this week as the Supervisory Body under UN Climate Change adopted an expedited plan to deliver high-quality carbon credits through the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM).
Moving beyond rule-setting, the Body shifted its focus toward implementation, prioritizing key sectors and accelerating the development of technical methodologies required to activate the market. The agreed work plan emphasizes strengthening methodologies that ensure emission reductions are real, measurable, and verified under the UN-supervised mechanism.
The Supervisory Body will direct its work toward sectors demonstrating strong demand, high readiness, and significant mitigation potential.
Newly elected Chair Mkhuthazi Steleki stated that the current year marks a transition from framework development to tangible delivery. He affirmed that the Body will finalize robust methodologies capable of generating emission reductions that governments and private sector actors can rely upon, while maintaining environmental integrity and transparency.
The Body also adopted a new tool to measure emissions from electricity generation and consumption, along with a tool to estimate the technical lifetime of equipment used in PACM activities. Vice-Chair Jacqui Ruesga said these tools demonstrate that the mechanism is becoming operational and capable of channeling investment toward priority mitigation areas.
Additional decisions taken during the meeting included updated procedures for transitioning activities from the Clean Development Mechanism, following the extension granted by Parties until 30 June 2026. The Body also advanced work on a voluntary cancellation platform within the mechanism registry and approved accreditation decisions for several designated operational entities, strengthening validation and verification capacity.
These measures support the continued operationalization of the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism established under the Paris Agreement.
During the session, the Supervisory Body elected Steleki as Chair and Ruesga as Vice-Chair for the year. Members also appointed Adriana Gutierrez of Colombia and Simon Fellermeyer of Switzerland as co-chairs of the Methodological Expert Panel, and Mominata Elola Compaore of Burkina Faso and Dexter Lee of the United Kingdom as co-chairs of the Accreditation Expert Panel.
The accelerated plan signals growing momentum toward delivering a credible, transparent, and high-integrity global carbon market framework under the Paris Agreement. (*)
