The Swedish Energy Agency Partners with Gold Standard to ensure integrity in international cooperation under Paris Agreement
The Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) has partnered with Gold Standard to facilitate the Swedish Government’s acquisition of quality Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, aiming to serve as a model for broader international cooperation in mitigating climate change.
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement enables governments to voluntarily cooperate in the achievement of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), using market and non-market-based approaches to transfer mitigation outcomes. Instead of the SEA developing new processes for article 6 activities, Gold Standard rules, framework, and infrastructure will be adapted and utilized. This is expected to reduce transaction costs, increase certainty over supply for the government, reduce risk for project developers, and give independent assurance to all stakeholders that rigorous requirements are in place to ensure integrity and quality.
Beyond the climate impact, making use of Gold Standard principles will allow for the delivery of quantified, verified contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals that tangibly benefit the constituents where projects take place.
The partners expect this collaboration to mark a significant step forward for Article 6.2 cooperation, pioneering new approaches to address market barriers while setting the bar high in terms of quality of units and promotion of sustainable development.
Sandra Lindström, Head of International Climate Cooperation, from the Swedish Energy Agency says, “We expect this collaboration to provide valuable insight and the tools necessary to facilitate international cooperation on climate change and increased ambitions, in line with the Paris Agreement.”
Gold Standard Chief Executive Margaret Kim says, “We’ve built a track record over nearly two decades of maximising the impact of carbon finance in both compliance and voluntary markets. It’s only logical to extend this to international agreements, positioning buyer and host countries and the climate to mutually benefit.”
About Gold Standard
Gold Standard (www.goldstandard.org, @goldstandard) was established in 2003 by WWF and other international NGOs as a best practice standard to help the world #GrowToZero. All Gold Standard-certified projects and programmes accelerate progress toward the Net-Zero ambition of the Paris Climate Agreement while catalyzing impact toward the broader Sustainable Development Goals. Its standard, Gold Standard for the Global Goals, allows climate and development initiatives to quantify, certify, and maximise their impacts toward climate security and sustainable development. Certification against the standard provides the confidence that these results are measured and verified, enabling credible impact reporting. With ISEAL Code Compliant status and backed by a broad NGO Supporter Network, Gold Standard has 2000+ projects underway in over 90 countries, creating billions of dollars of shared value from climate and development action worldwide.
