The United Nations has adopted two new methodologies that will enable eligible clean-cooking projects to generate carbon credits under the Paris Agreement’s carbon market.
Gatekeepers News reports that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) announced that the methodologies were approved by the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, which oversees the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism.
The decision establishes a framework for projects that help households reduce fuel consumption or transition to cleaner cooking methods to qualify for UN-backed carbon credits.
According to the UNFCCC, approximately 2.1 billion people worldwide still rely on open fires or inefficient stoves that burn polluting fuels for cooking.
The organisation said cleaner cooking solutions could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ease pressure on forests and limit household exposure to harmful air pollution.
One of the newly adopted methodologies covers improved wood- and charcoal-burning cookstoves, while the second supports broader transitions to cleaner, lower-emission household cooking technologies.
The methodologies outline the requirements projects must satisfy, how emission reductions should be calculated and monitored, and the verification procedures that must be completed before carbon credits can be issued.
The UNFCCC said the rules were designed to ensure that the credits represent genuine, additional and conservatively calculated emission reductions.
Mkhuthazi Steleki, chair of the supervisory body, said the decision would provide cleaner-cooking initiatives with a new opportunity to participate in the UN carbon market.
“This decision gives cleaner cooking projects a new pathway under the UN carbon market, with clear rules to ensure that each credit represents a real and credible emission reduction,” Steleki said.
“We have a clear mandate from Parties to build a high-integrity mechanism that supports the goals of the Paris Agreement. These methodologies put that mandate into practice, combining pathways for cleaner cooking projects with robust safeguards that support confidence in the mechanism.”
The supervisory body also adopted an initial tool for assessing the risk of emission reductions being reversed in cleaner-cooking projects and other activities aimed at reducing the use of non-renewable biomass.
The tool requires potential reversals to be addressed to ensure carbon credits are not continually counted when the emission reductions they represent have subsequently been undone.
“The tool will be updated as stronger evidence and improved data become available, with future versions expected to cover other types of activities,” the UNFCCC said.
The organisation added that countries could apply country-specific values when assessing natural risks, provided suitable data were available. This would allow the approach to reflect national circumstances while maintaining consistent carbon accounting.
The UNFCCC said the new methodologies would broaden the range of activities covered by the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism, which already includes landfill gas projects, nitrous oxide reduction in nitric acid production and grid-connected renewable electricity projects.
The supervisory body is expected to present its annual report to parties at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), where countries may provide further guidance on its mandate and the development of carbon-market rules.
