Sustainable Development Initiative on the Implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC process

The Sustainable Development Initiative (SDI) explores Party and other stakeholder views on options to assist with the implementation of sustainable development provisions in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to the UNFCCC. Based on technical work, research and analysis, the SDI regularly presents options for guidance, rules, modalities and procedures to operationalize the Article 6 sustainable development (SD) provisions.

The overall objective of the current SDI work plan is to raise awareness on the opportunities associated with strong SD provisions in Article 6 through a combination of a

• party driven policy dialogue;
• piloting of SD tools and approaches in real world projects, and
• outreach and strategic partnerships for a community of practice.

Lessons learned from the Sustainable Development Tool

The Article 6.4 Sustainable Development Tool (SD Tool) is the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism’s tool to measure, report and verify sustainable development impacts and safeguard against harmful, unintended consequences.
The Sustainable Development Initiative has analyzed early use cases of the tool and explored how it works in practice in different contexts, including in the VCM and potential A6.2 activity. Based on the related report, Piloting the A6.4 Sustainable Development Tool – Lessons From Early Use, the webinar below presents key findings from the pilots and discuss how the A6.4 SD tool can support a “race to the top” on sustainable development in carbon markets:

Documentation of the latest SDI activities can be found here:

Template for Completing the Article 6.4 Host Party Participation Form

Presentation for Activity Participants - filling out A6.4 SD Tool forms

Piloting the A6.4 Sustainable Development Tool – Lessons From Early Use

News and technical analysis on adoption of A6.4 SD Tool

Why SDG impact assessment matters for a social license to operate Article 6 carbon markets

Stocktake of SDG tools presented at COP27

SDI 2022 summary

SDI position paper for COP26

Article: System Change. Transformative design of Article 6 programmes for net zero emissions by 2050

Views on Sustainable Development provisions in the Art. 6 ‘rulebook’ draft from COP25 in Madrid

The analysis examines the status of these options in the latest negotiation drafts. It compares the drafts of the rulebook elaborated during the meeting of SBSTA in Bonn (2019) with the last versions of the draft texts contained in the Presidential Proposals at COP25 in Madrid (2019). The aim of the analysis is to inform Article 6 negotiators and relevant stakeholders, how the high-level SD options are addressed in the current drafts.

SDI position paper ahead of COP25 in Madrid, 2019

The negotiations at COP25 aimed to conclude the rulebook on Article 6. The rulebook is an important opportunity to establish a framework for the required knowledge sharing on tools and approaches to promote SD in Article 6. Ahead of COP25 the SDI recommended the launch of a work programme to develop voluntary tools and approaches to assist with SD assessment.

The Long Road to a Common Understanding - Sustainable Development and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Aligning the Agendas: A Party-driven dialogue on Sustainable Development in the context of Article 6 PA

Text Proposals: Promoting sustainable development through article 6 of the Paris Agreement

UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre and the Gold Standard Foundation are the founding partners and operating entities of the SDI. Since its start in 2017, the SDI has been supported by Belgium, Finland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.