IATP is a co-signer of the following letter was sent on June 8, 2024 to the UNFCCC Supervisory Body, Co-Chairs and Secretariat of Article 6, paragraph 4 of the Paris Agreement. Read the letter in full and see the full list of signatories here.

 
As the Supervisory Body of Article 6.4 convenes to discuss key areas of the global carbon offsets mechanism, social movements and non-governmental organizations ask the Supervisory Body of Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement to reconsider its trajectory. The stakes could not be any higher, the science any clearer, or the imperative for immediate action any greater. The Article 6.4 mechanism will be a license to pollute for the industries that have caused climate change and will not avert climate catastrophe already accelerating and deepening global inequalities.

Current levels of warming are already causing permanent loss and damage, especially for the populations most vulnerable to, and least responsible for, the climate crisis. Surpassing 1.5°C of warming—even temporarily—will unleash further irreparable harm taking the planet into a point of no return. The Supervisory Body and Secretariat have a responsibility to listen and incorporate the concerns of cross-constituency groups at the UNFCCC, scientists and social movements who continue to reject carbon trading and offsetting in order to avert climate catastrophe. The urgency of the climate crisis demands a rapid reorientation of our societies and economies away from fossil fuels, the key driver of global warming. There is no time or justification for policy scenarios that fail to center an immediate halt to oil, gas, and coal expansion and the equitably managed phaseout of all fossil fuels. The build out of Article 6.4 offsets mechanisms will do the opposite of phasing out fossil fuels and is indefensible. 

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