BeZero’s Article 6 Country Profiles - Introduction

Introduction 

The BeZero Carbon Article 6 Country Profile is a standardised data framework that distils the complexity of countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement into a clear, comparable, and decision-useful format. It consolidates disparate information on NDC target design, reporting transparency, Article 6 governance arrangements, and historical carbon market experience, drawing on publicly available UNFCCC documentation and BeZero’s proprietary data. The framework bridges the gap between high-level climate policy and real-world market outcomes. 

NDCs provide crucial information for engaging in Article 6; they are the fundamental requirement for participation and determine where and when Article 6 activities occur. This explainer first provides essential context for navigating these markets, including key background on the Paris Agreement, focusing on elements relevant to Article 6, the different approaches to designing NDCs, how reporting under the Paris Agreements works, and, most importantly, how this relates to market activity under Article 6.

Secondly, we will outline the three pillars of the framework that underpin the Article 6 Country Profile: Transparency, Governance, and Carbon Market Experience. Together, these metrics help users identify opportunities for engagement in Article 6 carbon markets and distinguish between theoretical ambition and the operational readiness required to participate effectively.

The Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement was signed by 195 countries in 2015. The agreement committed international efforts to limit global temperature change to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit temperature change to 1.5°C. This created a framework for collective efforts to address the sources and impacts of climate change. 

The Paris Agreement created Nationally Determined Contributions, which are each country’s domestic decarbonisation target, and introduced cooperative approaches to implementing these targets through Article 6. The agreement includes processes for ongoing monitoring of collective progress and for encouraging the design of national targets that support meaningful climate action.

The cooperative approaches described under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement facilitate the transfer of financial resources and technology between Parties to support the achievement of the targets set.

• Article 6.2 enables the trading of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) between a host country and a recipient, which may be a government or a private entity. The host country can choose to issue a letter of authorisation (LoA) that confirms the eligibility of ITMO use towards another country’s NDC or for Other International Mitigation Purposes (OIMP), such as in the aviation sector’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).

• Article 6.4 establishes a new UN crediting mechanism, the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), for trading Article 6.4 Emission Reductions (A6.4 ERs). Host countries can choose whether to authorise the A6.4 ERs as ITMOs. Non-authorised A6.4 ERs are called ‘mitigation contributions’ and can only be used towards the host country’s emissions targets. The same considerations for ITMO transactions apply under Article 6.2.

The Article 6 rulebook determines the following prerequisites to facilitate a country’s engagement in Article 6.2:

• Party to the Paris Agreement

• Prepared, communicated, and maintained an NDC

• Has arrangements to authorise the use of ITMOs towards the achievement of NDCs

• Has arrangements for tracking ITMOs that are consistent with the rules of Article 6

• Has provided the most recent national inventory report required

In addition to the above, countries participating in PACM must:

• Appointed a Designated National Authority (DNA) as the organisation responsible for overseeing Article 6.4 activity and liaising with the UNFCCC

• Submitted host party participation requirements, indicating the types of activities the country is open to authorising under PACM

In addition to these two market mechanisms, Article 6.8 provides a non-market cooperation framework for technology transfer and support.

NDC target-setting approaches 

There are several approaches to setting an NDC target under the Paris Agreement; these can be categorised as absolute and relative reduction targets. The collection, consolidation, and analysis of the data required to create an NDC is a significant undertaking, particularly for countries with limited capacity. Therefore, there is flexibility in setting targets and metrics for measuring progress. 

Parties are sovereign nations with differentiated responsibilities, meaning each country can take a tailored approach to setting and achieving its targets. 

Parties are required to submit new NDCs every 5 years, with each successive target raising ambition. This iterative implementation timeline requires ongoing reporting on progress toward the set targets. Alongside the various approaches to setting the overall target, a developing country can tailor the sectors and GHGs that are included in the target. In 2025, 42% of parties had communicated an economy-wide target, but this is not a requirement for developing countries.² This enables differentiated responsibilities but adds to the complexity in understanding countries’ target coverage and ambition.

Unconditional and Conditional Targets

In addition, countries can set both unconditional and conditional elements within their overall target. This further tailors the approach.

• Unconditional targets are those that a country has determined it will achieve independently, without external assistance or support. This will be funded and implemented domestically.

• Conditional targets enable countries to collaborate in delivering climate action by providing international support, such as funding or technical assistance.

Single- and Multi-year Targets

Another important element of the NDC for implementing Article 6 is whether a single or multi-year target has been adopted. This impacts how ongoing progress is measured and communicated, and how corresponding adjustments are applied.

• A single-year target means the country commits to hitting a specific emissions level in the target year, usually 2030. It doesn’t say what emissions must look like before or after that year.

• A multi-year target requires the country to keep its emissions within a set limit over the entire period, not just for one year. This can be expressed as an emissions ‘budget’ or as a commitment to stay below certain levels over a range of years (e.g., 2025–2030).

While there are a range of other methods to tailor an NDC, including non-greenhouse gas (GHG) targets or sector-specific goals, the options listed above are the fundamental building blocks for understanding the NDC. In the BeZero Article 6 Country Profile, we have chosen to focus on GHG targets as the key metric, as this is where the corresponding adjustment of credits will be applied.

Reporting requirements under the Enhanced Transparency Framework

Reporting is determined by Article 13 of the Paris Agreement, which introduces the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). The ETF requires the publication of Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) every two years, which include the latest national greenhouse gas emissions inventory, progress towards the measurable metrics under the NDC, and details of the application of corresponding adjustments for Article 6 transactions. The first BTRs were due by the end of December 2024. The BTR is crucial for assessing whether the assumptions underlying the NDC have changed (e.g., recalculated emissions figures) and whether the country is making progress toward the targets it has set. 

The granular emissions information submitted under the ETF is essential for understanding countries' progress towards NDCs, as it enables a clear distinction between emissions sources and removals from carbon sinks. Reporting gross emissions, the total quantity of greenhouse gases emitted, and net emissions, emissions after accounting for removals from sinks, allows users to understand whether changes in national emissions are driven by structural reductions in emitting sectors or by changes to the carbon sink. Where this distinction is not clearly delineated, there is a risk that apparent progress towards an NDC reflects updates in land-use accounting or sink performance rather than genuine mitigation of gross emissions. This is particularly important for countries with substantial natural sinks, where ambiguity between gross and net emissions can obscure the true level of mitigation effort.

The role of NDCs for Article 6

While the Paris Agreement was agreed in 2015, the rules and modalities for operationalising Article 6 markets have taken a decade to finalise. Each subsequent Conference of the Parties (COP) has brought together national delegations to negotiate acceptable rules of engagement and to enable the market mechanism to begin, with the remaining outstanding issues addressed and finalised at COP29 in 2024. 

The most important concept introduced for Article 6 markets is the accounting practice of corresponding adjustment. A corresponding adjustment differentiates an Article 6 project from a conventional carbon project, enabling its use towards a country's NDC or for other international mitigation purposes (OIMP), such as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).

NDCs lay the foundation for the operation of Article 6 markets; both market mechanisms are reliant on countries’ NDCs and reporting. Publishing and maintaining an NDC is a prerequisite to participation in the mechanisms. The NDC contains essential information on the following:

• Whether a party intends to utilise Article 6 mechanisms, either to achieve its objectives or as a means to raise ambition. 

• The sectors and gases included in the target, providing guidance on which project types should be used.

• Whether an unconditional and a conditional target has been defined, determining which elements of the NDC require international support.

A country without an active NDC cannot participate in the mechanisms.

Project-level integrity

Article 6 enables host countries to achieve their NDCs through the implementation of various project types. These range from leveraging international finance to funding technological activities in hard-to-abate sectors, to large-scale forest conservation, to small, community-focused projects. Regardless of the scale or type of project, it must align with the NDC's design, particularly the NDC baseline and sector eligibility criteria. This requirement introduces country-level risk.

The relationship between the project and the overall NDC means that they are mutually dependent to ensure integrity. Project and NDC credibility are essential to delivering measurable climate action; the corresponding adjustments applied must represent legitimate underlying activities. 

To mitigate this risk and design an effective market, countries must draft subsequent legislation and policy frameworks to enable the credible implementation of projects. This includes the process of authorising bilateral agreements, projects, and individual credits. The details of a positive or negative list should also be published to provide guidance on which types of projects should be prioritised.

An ITMO represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) avoided, reduced, or removed, comparable to other project-based carbon in the conventional voluntary market. Therefore, these projects face the same risks at the project level. This can be reflected in a carbon rating. Carbon ratings are a metric which allows projects to be compared across all project types, locations, and carbon markets. However, Article 6 projects carry additional country-level risks compared to conventional projects, associated with implementing the NDC and designing their institutional structures to ensure integrity.

Approaches to applying corresponding adjustments

When an Article 6 project is implemented and credits are issued, the corresponding adjustment in each Party’s national inventory serves as a safeguard against double counting. The updated national inventories are submitted as part of the ETF aligned with the BTR’s two-year cycle. This allows the tracking of the transfer of internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs) between parties. The method by which this is applied is also determined by the NDC's design.

When applying a corresponding adjustment in a multi-year target, an averaging approach is used. When a single-year target is set, an averaging or a trajectory approach can be used. 

• An averaging method works by applying an indicative amount of corresponding adjustments each year (an average of the amounts used) and then applying the corresponding adjustment in the NDC target year. The average amount is calculated by dividing the cumulative number of credits by the years elapsed.

• A trajectory approach utilises an emissions trajectory over the NDC period, projected for a single-year target or aligned with the NDC trajectory for a multi-year target. The number of corresponding adjustments required for each year is applied annually.

Providing clarity on how and when a corresponding adjustment will be applied reduces market uncertainty. While there is a limited supply of Article 6 credits at the moment, as more projects become authorised and credits become available, we will see this authorisation process unfold and possibly be iterated on.

The BeZero Article 6 Country Profile

BeZero’s Article 6 Country Profile aims to consolidate the complex reporting under the Paris Agreement and provide users with structured information in a comparable format. This is an iterative process developed through engagement with a range of market stakeholders, from project developers to governments and corporate clients. BeZero’s approach to this complex topic is to distil the key features of the NDC target, Article 6 readiness, and carbon market experience into a digestible layout.

Stakeholders, including governments, investors and project developers, can leverage the Article 6 Country Profile to inform decision-making and their approach to Article 6. The profile enables clear comparisons between countries and the identification of development opportunities where robust arrangements are in place.

The framework integrates publicly available data consolidated from a range of documents, including a country’s NDC 2.0 and NDC 3.0, Biennial Transparency Reports (including Common Reporting Tables and National Inventory Documents), Initial Reports on Article 6 activity submitted on the Centralised Accounting and Reporting Platform (CARP), the relevant national carbon market regulations and Article 6 implementation policies.

Information on Article 6.2 activity from the UNEP-CCC Article 6 Pipeline and Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) activity from the CDM to PACM transition database is combined with the BeZero Carbon country-specific proprietary data on active project types, rated projects and vintage-specific issuance data from independent standards bodies. 

The information provides an overview of target transparency, consistency, reporting, institutional readiness, and experience. The tabular format highlights the most relevant data points, which are otherwise scattered across multiple documents, enabling quicker comparison and due diligence.

The approach to the country profile

Transparency

The transparency section provides an overview of the key metrics to determine how the NDC is designed, which sectors are covered, the reported progress made, and the consistency between NDCs.³ This overview enables users to assess the comprehensiveness of the target and whether sufficient information is available to facilitate understanding.

Governance

The institutional arrangements in a given country for governing the NDC and Article 6 provide market participants with confidence to engage in project development within that country. The governance section of the country profile offers an overview of the high-level legislative support for achieving the NDC, and a more detailed examination of the country’s Article 6-relevant policy. 

Maintaining the NDC is the first step in engaging with Article 6; the subsequent implementing policy should provide the procedural information needed to meet the mechanism's accounting requirements. 

A country’s Article 6 strategy can provide more information to market participants, helping them better understand where to invest. This is often supported by relevant regulations, depending on the country's legislative context. 

Carbon market experience

The carbon market experience section provides an overview of the previous activity in the country. This utilises BeZero’s proprietary data to demonstrate activity in the VCM and UNFCCC databases, including in the CDM, transitioning to PACM, and under Article 6.2. This is included in the framework to contextualise the existing state of carbon markets, providing users with decision-useful information on the local market conditions.

BeZero’s ‘In scope’ label for CORSIA phase one represents our assessment that the project’s methodology and issuance dates comply with the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) eligibility criteria for CORSIA-eligible emissions units. However, ‘In scope’ projects have not fulfilled all the requirements as they do not have the Letter of Authorisation and insurance in place to be marked as CORSIA-eligible on the respective registry.

Conclusion

Credible engagement under Article 6 requires adherence to the Paris Agreement's participation requirements and the development of a robust Article 6 strategy, supported by well-designed institutional arrangements. The BeZero Article 6 Country Profile provides the structure to enable cross-country comparisons. The framework demonstrates risks where there is a lack of clear information and opportunities where robust arrangements are in place.

BeZero's platform customers can access our Article 6 Country Profiles. Log in to download available profiles including Ghana, Colombia and Pakistan, with more to follow shortly.

¹Consolidated common approaches from reading NDCs and the summary in the UNFCCC NDC Synthesis Report 2025. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resourc,e/cma2025_08.pdf

²UNFCCC NDC Synthesis Report 2025. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resourc,e/cma2025_08.pdf, p.37

³ https://unfccc.int/NDCREG

⁴ ‘Best practice’ has been determined by reviewing key guidance produced by organisations such as GGGI, UNDP and other relevant institutions.