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Pilot activities under the Paris Agreement

About

In December 2015, an agreement was adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris that replaces the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and provides new foundations for international climate policy from 2021 onward.


Article 6 of the Paris Agreement states that emission reductions may be traded among states and that buyer states may thereby outperform their national emission target or offset emissions that exceed their emission target. The conditions are (i) that the environmental integrity of emission reductions be guaranteed, (ii) that the transfer be correctly accounted for, so as to avoid any double counting, and (iii) that the transaction contribute to sustainable development. Concrete rules remain to be agreed; their adoption is now scheduled for late 2021 at the Conference of the Parties in Glasgow.


Switzerland has announced its intention to make extensive use of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Following the referendum held on 13 June 2021 and the rejection of the Swiss CO₂ Act, which would have specified the scope of this use, it now remains to be seen how exactly Switzerland will avail itself of Article 6.


The current agreement between the Swiss Confederation and the Foundation nonetheless states that a sum of at least 20 million Swiss Francs is to be used toward funding pilot activities serving to concretise and implement the possibilities provided under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Such activities are to be consistent with Switzerland’s stance in international climate negotiations. Decisions on pilot activities will be made in consultation with the competent body of the Swiss Confederation.


Current status

The Climate Cent Foundation is currently following up on one pilot activity submitted in a call for proposals carried out in early 2017.