Paris Agreement Carbon Market Approves First Credits
The first approval under Article 6.4 brings the Paris Agreement carbon market into practice.
UN Climate Change has announced the first approval of credits for issuance under the UN carbon market created by the Paris Agreement. This is the point at which the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) begins to operate in practice, making its rules on credit volume, use and integrity relevant in a real transaction context.
The First Issuance Under Article 6.4
The first activity approved for issuance is a clean-cooking project in Myanmar based on the distribution of efficient cookstoves. UN Climate Change says the project is designed to lower harmful air pollution in households and ease pressure on local forests. The activity is coordinated with participants authorised by the Republic of Korea.
Under the arrangement described in the source, some of the credits may be transferred to Korean entities for use in the Korean Emissions Trading System and may count towards the Republic of Korea’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The balance is intended for Myanmar’s own NDC.
UN Climate Change describes the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, as a carbon crediting mechanism intended to support verifiable emission reductions, mobilise finance and enable cooperation among countries and other actors. The Article 6.4 Supervisory Body develops and supervises the requirements and processes needed to operate the mechanism, including methodologies, registration, accreditation of third-party verification bodies and the Article 6.4 Registry.
The accompanying meeting report places this first approval within a wider programme of governance and infrastructure work. At its twentieth meeting in February 2026, the Supervisory Body revised the transition procedure for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) activities, adopted two methodological tools, agreed its 2026 meeting calendar and set the provisional agenda for its twenty-first meeting in May 2026.
Project Scope, Pipeline and Transition Timing
For now, the immediate scope is one clean-cooking activity in Myanmar. The broader transition pipeline is far larger. UN Climate Change states that more than 165 host-Party-approved projects are moving from the CDM into the PACM across sectors including waste management, energy, industry and agriculture.
Methodology is a central part of why this first approval matters. The project had previously received a provisional issuance under the CDM, but the Article 6.4 process used updated values and more conservative calculations. According to the source, that produced a credited volume around 40% lower than under the CDM and was presented as more closely aligned with environmental integrity requirements and current science and information.
The transition framework is also still being adjusted. The Supervisory Body revised the “Procedure: Transition of CDM activities to the Article 6.4 mechanism” to reflect a decision extending the deadline to 30 June 2026 for an Article 6.4 designated national authority of a host Party of the CDM to submit approval for transition. It also extended to seven days the deadline for revised or corrected documents after the secretariat’s completeness check for activities applying a new Article 6.4 methodology at transition.
The report sets a further limit where no applicable Article 6.4 methodology exists. In those circumstances, a project proponent may continue monitoring relevant parameters to preserve continuity of monitoring, but that does not keep a CDM methodology applicable beyond the earlier of the crediting period expiry or 31 December 2025. Nor does it create any entitlement or assurance regarding issuance for that period.
Conclusions
The immediate point to watch is whether the first approval clears the 14-day appeal period. Beyond that, attention is likely to remain on the transition pipeline and on further Supervisory Body work on methodologies, registry processes and related infrastructure.
The main takeaway is that Article 6.4 has reached an important operational milestone, while parts of its procedural and methodological framework remain under development. The key point is not only that credits now exist under the mechanism, but also that their status, methodology and authorisation context still matter.
