Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) are the unit of exchange created by Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement (adopted in 2015 at COP21). They allow a country that has overachieved on its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), or hosted a mitigation project, to transfer the resulting emissions reductions or removals to another country, which can then count them toward its own NDC.
ITMOs are designed to be flexible: they can cover CO₂ and other greenhouse gases, but also potentially non-GHG metrics such as hectares of forest or megawatt-hours of renewable energy, provided participating parties agree on a conversion. They are distinct from credits issued under the Article 6.4 mechanism, the centralized UN-supervised crediting system that succeeds the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.
To prevent double counting, transferring countries must apply a "corresponding adjustment" — adding the transferred tonnes back to their own emissions inventory while the acquiring country subtracts them. The detailed rulebook governing reporting, review, and registries was largely finalized at COP26 in Glasgow (2021) and refined at subsequent COPs.
Key features agreed by Parties include:
- Authorization by the host country before an outcome becomes an ITMO.
- Initial and annual reporting to the UNFCCC secretariat, including an Initial Report and Annual Information.
- Real, verified, additional mitigation, occurring after 2020.
- A share of proceeds and overall mitigation in global emissions (OMGE) are encouraged but, unlike Article 6.4, not mandatory under 6.2.
Early bilateral agreements have been signed by Switzerland with Ghana, Peru, Senegal, Vanuatu, Thailand and others, and by Japan through its Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) partnerships. Sweden, Singapore, and South Korea have also pursued ITMO arrangements. Critics warn that without rigorous baselines and additionality testing, ITMOs risk inflating paper reductions; supporters argue they channel finance to lower-income hosts and lower the global cost of meeting the Paris temperature goals.
Example
In 2022, Switzerland and Ghana finalized the first bilateral authorization under Article 6.2 for ITMOs generated by a clean-cookstove and rice-cultivation project, with corresponding adjustments to be applied to Ghana's NDC inventory.
Frequently asked questions
ITMOs are transferred bilaterally between countries under Article 6.2 with each pair setting its own rules within UNFCCC guidance. Article 6.4 credits (sometimes called A6.4ERs) are issued by a centralized UN Supervisory Body using standardized methodologies.
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