UN climate change mitigation registry to enable cross-border data exchange
A registry system that will record, track and verify mitigation transfers between countries and operationalise a key component of the Paris Agreement is in development, according to UN Climate Change.
Worrk to develop the digital infrastructure for the registry system under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, is under way, and will enable international cooperation to tackle climate change and to unlock financial support for developing countries.
“The Article 6 registries are central to enabling international cooperation on carbon markets, supporting transparent accounting, sovereign participation, and the integrity of cross-border emissions transfers,” the UN said.
The multi-year contract for the development of the registries has been awarded to Trovio through a competitive procurement process led by the UN Development Programme and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Trovio specialises in digital infrastructure and registry systems for environmental assets, commodities and environmental, social and governance (ESG) data.
It will collaborate with EY on the project, which will contribute advisory capabilities covering Article 6 mechanisms and broader climate policy and deliver front-end user experiences built on top of Trovio’s CorTenX registry platform.
Four key components
There are four components of the system under development:
- A ‘minimum viable product’: a foundational system that demonstrates essential registry functions and enables early pilot-testing with participating countries.
- The Article 6.2 International Registry: the central platform to track, authorise, and report internationally transferred mitigation outcomes.
- The Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism Registry: a dedicated registry enabling issuance, transfer, cancellation, and tracking of emission reductions.
- And an interoperability hub: a communication layer based on common standards that ensures consistent, secure data exchange between national and international systems.
The UN described the interoperability hub as an “essential component” enabling transparency, integrity, and compatibility across global carbon market infrastructure.
“Together, these systems form the backbone of future international carbon markets cooperation under the Paris Agreement, supporting high-integrity emissions accounting and building confidence in cross-border mitigation transfers,” UN Climate Change said.
It added that once completed, the systems “will be deployed within UNFCCC-hosted environments and aligned with the technical, security, and performance standards required for global scale environmental market operations”.
The system will satisfy two of the three components of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement: to provide accounting and reporting guidance for member states to use internationally transferred mitigation outcomes towards their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and to establish a new UNFCCC mechanism which can be used to trade high-quality carbon credits.
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About Mia Hunt
Mia has been editor of globalgovernmentforum.com since 2019. She has 15 years’ experience as a journalist and editor and specialises in writing for civil and public servants worldwide, including covering sustainability policy and related issues. She has led the Global Government Women’s Network since it launched in 2023. Previously, she covered commercial property having been market reports and supplements editor at Property Week and deputy editor at Retail Destination. She graduated from Kingston University London with a first-class honours degree in journalism and was part of the team that produced The River newspaper, which won Publication of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2010.
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