Dear colleague,

With the second session of SBSTA 48 opening in Bangkok on Tuesday, Carbon Market Watch would like to share with you the new briefing we have developed entitled “Reconciling CORSIA and the Sustainable Development Mechanism”. This document proposes an innovative and environmentally robust way to integrate the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) into the operationalisation of Article 6.

Carbon Market Watch echoes the growing call from civil society to create a new dynamic in international carbon markets, ending Kyoto Protocol mechanisms by not allowing the use of CDM credits post-2020. To design a coherent system which supports the various objectives of the Paris Agreement, a single mechanism should be set up under Article 6, which should contribute to the transition towards economy-wide in-sector emissions reductions.

Specific provisions under the Paris Agreement rulebook will therefore need to be adopted to make sure that the aviation sector’s short-term reliance on offsets does not undermine the global transition to more ambitious domestic mitigation actions. To this effect, we put forward a ratchet mechanism on NDC scope as well as rules to avoid double counting through corresponding adjustments. We also support the inclusion of a 50% discount rate on all offset credits, in order for Article 6 to contribute to the overall mitigation of global emissions

Finally, we recommend the inclusion of detailed rules on how to conduct local stakeholder consultations, and the inclusion of a grievance mechanism to help protect communities from adverse local impacts of mitigation projects.

We would also like to share a new CAN paper on interlinkages between Articles 4, 6, and 13 which we hope you will find useful to inform session 2 of the roundtable on overlapping items in the Paris Agreement Work Program on September 3rd.