Axel Michaelowa

• PhD
• University of Zurich

This paper has been prepared by Perspectives Climate Research and KTH Royal Institute of Technology as part of the research project “Nordic bio-CCS cooperation through Article 6”, funded by the Swedish Energy Agency under the Industrial Leap support programme. The project examines the conditions for promoting the capture and durable storage of biog...

Purpose of review Despite the increasing political attention and support, the high costs of many carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies remain a barrier to their large-scale deployment. We provide an overview of the economics for two key CDR options – BECCS and DACCS – and review proposed and existing CDR policies to address the “CDR gap” in ach...

Global militaries are some of the largest carbon polluters on the planet. Yet we still know very little about their overall contribution to climate change. Militaries generally do not report their emissions to international climate bodies. If they do, their reporting is often inadequate, leaving significant gaps in accounting. We cannot cut what we...

Under the Paris Agreement, global climate governance has become decidedly more polycentric. However, it is still debated whether the turn toward greater polycentricity leads to more effectiveness in delivering public goods like climate change mitigation. This article argues that engagement in polycentric climate governance is linked to both more am...

We assess the development of informality in international climate policy on two levels: Whether informal organizations meaningfully contribute to climate change mitigation, and what role informality plays under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Proliferation of informal intergovernmental organizations (IIGOs) has enabled the m...

Using a dynamic version of the principal–agent model this chapter develops a theoretical framework for an international bureaucracy’s influence on the delegation of responsibilities by the organization’s member states. It argues that this influence is reinforced by external resource flows that both directly and indirectly strengthen the role of the...

How can one, as an individual, influence the global policy process addressing climate change? Isn’t one powerless given the enormous resources controlled by fossil fuel interests? Will policymakers not always address short-term issues while shirking the long-term ones? Does a consensus-based process at all make sense when there are so many open and...

This study assesses whether existing international carbon market methodologies for determination of additionality and baselines and monitoring, particularly those from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), can be adjusted to transition to the Article 6.4 mechanism. We highlight the necessity of drawing from the experiences of the Kyoto Protocol. C...

This report summarizes key lessons learned from the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) for the new Article 6.4 mechanism of the Paris Agreement. The report first provides an overview of the issuance and use of carbon credits under these mechanisms. This is followed by an assessment of what elements of t...

International carbon markets are potentially a very powerful tool for mobilizing carbon dioxide removal in line with Paris Agreement ambitions to limit global warming to well below 2°C. This requires reaching global net-zero emissions between 2050 and 2070. Yet, carbon market regulators have not approached removals in a systematic manner. This revi...

Contribution to public hearing of German Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, Sub-Committee International Climate and Energy Policy 19 October 2022

The concept of international climate finance channelled from developed to developing countries has been developed over the last decade, but its roots date back to the early 1990s. Despite the high relevance of the topic in the international climate negotiations, illustrated by the (missed) target to mobilise USD 100 billion by 2020, there is no boo...

The world is not on track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Climate innovation is critical to accelerate the transition to net zero emission and climate resilient societies. However, investment in new climate solutions is hampered by a range of policy, regulatory, technical, and macro-economic barriers. They result in high-risk perceptions...

Rwanda is a least developed country that has emerged from complete devastation due to genocide in the last 25 years. The Rwandan approach to international climate finance aims at maximizing effectiveness and alignment across Rwandan government institutions. Its cornerstone is the Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA) which invests in the best public and priv...

This chapter looks at enhanced direct Access (EDA), an innovative programmatic access modality for multilateral climate funds under which funding decisions are delegated to the recipient national or sub-national level. It begins by looking at historic precursors, such as the Marshall Plan in Germany, and then turns to discuss the evolution of EDA i...

A new Pocket Guide from ecbi sheds light on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. A key part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, Article 6 sets out the basis for international cooperation on climate action, including both market and non-market mechanisms. Most of the details on how Article 6 will work were finalised in 2021 at COP 26 in Glasgow, meaning it is...

Carbon markets – both emission trading systems and baseline and credit systems – are an increasingly common policy instrument being introduced to address climate change mitigation. However, their design is crucial to ensure that they deliver cost-effective emission reductions while maintaining environmental integrity. This Element puts together a c...

This paper discusses options to increase mitigation ambition in crediting mechanisms that serve the Paris Agreement (PA), such as the Article 6.4 mechanism. Under the Clean Development Mechanism and other crediting mechanisms, baselines have been specified in the form of greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity factors and linked to business-as-usual develop...

Climate change mitigation actions, including those aimed at developing and scaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR) activities spanning the industrial, energy, and agroforestry sector, emerge in a context of internationally shared norms that include governance objectives, legal provisions and informal expectations, and societal expectations. Establishe...

Greenhouse gas emissions of military in peacetime and wars are notoriously overlooked but highly relevant, especially as the world becomes ever more conflict-prone. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) did not until now request or publish robust data for direct emissions from military activities and conflicts as well as indirect e...

Turning to partnerships in climate change governance, Katharina Michaelowa, Axel Michaelowa and Liliana B. Andonova (Chapter 4) examine the brokerage role of the World Bank in mobilizing public and private actors to contribute to the development of transnational carbon markets through the shaping and piloting of methodologies, financing, and capaci...

T7 Task Force Climate and Environment. Policy Brief As G7 countries generate 25% of world greenhouse gas emissions, an open and cooperative G7 climate alliance can accelerate international climate policy in a transformative and inclusive manner. Building upon a proposal of the German Government (2021), we propose the following design elements for s...

Over the past two decades, the emergence of multiple carbon market segments has led to fragmentation of governance of international carbon markets. International baseline-and-credit systems for greenhouse gas mitigation have been repeatedly expected to wither away, but show significant resilience. Still, Parties to the Paris Agreement have struggle...

Per-capita greenhouse gas emissions in cities like Bangkok or Shanghai have already reached emission levels of cities like London or Toronto. Large parts of the building stock and service infrastructure in cities in rapidly developing countries will be built in the coming decades—and may lock in high emissions pathways. A survey of projects under t...

Did COP26 in Glasgow save or doom us? A new report by ecbi, COP26 Key Outcomes, assesses the Glasgow Climate Summit on the level of political ambition it achieved as well as what it delivered on finance, loss and damage, transparency, common time frames, Article 6, and adaptation. It explains and evaluates key formal COP and CMA decisions, as well...

This NET-Rapido report offers an overview of existing and planned carbon dioxide removal tracking methodologies, specific proposals for refining and revising existing ones, overcoming gaps and problems in an efficient and yet environmentally robust manner.

Drawing on the theoretical concepts on how to undertake additionality tests developed by the authors in the report “Financial additionality test for cooperation under Article 6” report”, this empirical report provides concrete examples on how to implement the performance benchmark and payback period thresholds tests. Three Peruvian energy-related a...

Final report. The research project explores how carbon market approaches under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement can contribute to the transformational change required by these global agreements. The project names insights and recommendations for how to design and implement Article 6 rules and activities to promote transformational change through ca...

This study, commissioned by the Swedish Energy Agency, analyses lessons learned and explores benefits and challenges of applying benchmarks derived from “best available technology” assessments in international market-based cooperation. While there is limited experience in international carbon markets, it is proposed as a baseline setting approach f...

The study provides guidance on how countries can design NDCs and NDC implementation plans, and use the information presented therein, to promote their Article 6 readiness and enable pursuit of international cooperation under the Paris Agreement in a manner that ensures environmental integrity and promotes transformational change. At the same time,...

Tracy Bach and Beth Martin, RINGO CFPs, will follow up on their Monday, May 17 primer on the climate negotiations at COP26 by holding a live Q&A for attendees. They will answer your questions on how the topics covered during the week's sessions factor into the negotiations and side events anticipated at COP26 in November.

Commissioned by the Swedish Energy Agency, Z Perspectives and Zurich University of Applied Sciences studied the volume and origin of CERs that are still on the market, looking into information in the various national registries and the CDM registry. The study also draws lessons from the Kyoto Protocol on supply and demand in international carbon ma...

Learn how to navigate a COP, track specific negotiation items of interest, understand the COP policymakers' need for research and how to bring your research to the negotiations with Tracy Bach and Beth Martin, RINGO CFPs.

Solar radiation modification, particularly stratospheric aerosol injection, holds the potential to reduce the impacts of climate change on sustainable development, yet could itself generate negative impacts and is subject to intense scholarly debate based on relatively little evidence. Based on expert elicitation involving over 30 individuals with...

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) poses a significant and complex public policy challenge in the long-term. Presently treated as a marginal aspect of climate policy, addressing CDR as a public good is quickly becoming essential for limiting warming to well below 2 or 1.5°C by achieving net-zero emissions in time – including by mobilization of public and...

This paper was developed by Perspectives Climate Research gGmbH (PCR), with inputs from the Carbon Market Mechanisms Working Group (CMM-WG) and further technical experts consulted. We thank all the working group members and technical experts as well as the numerous survey participants for their input to this paper. The CMM-WG is chaired by PCR and...

While market-based forms of cooperation are enshrined in Articles 6.2–6.7, Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement recognizes the importance of non-market approaches (NMAs) in international cooperation on climate change mitigation and adaptation in a variety of fields. Article 6.9 establishes the NMA framework that promotes NMAs described in Article 6.8...

Populist and authoritarian leaders are increasingly coming to power in large countries. They often have a climate sceptic approach and do away with mitigation policies when coming to power. Increasing impacts of extreme meteorological events linked to climate change could lead to a situation where the supporters of the populist leader or elites cru...

This report examines how policy ought to mobilize continuous funding for carbon dioxide removal in order to provide a necessary public service – the sewage treatment of the skies so to speak. We examine various requirements that policies and policy mixes ought to provide in the near- and the medium to long-term in order to see CDR activities funded...

Baselines for international carbon markets have to date been specified in form of GHG intensity factors and linked to business-as-usual developments. This means that with increasing production of goods and services through carbon market activities, absolute baseline emissions increase or fall only slowly. This generates a large ‘emissions gap’ to t...

Carbon dioxide removals (CDR) complementing emission reduction efforts are needed to mitigate climate change. Many technological CDR options that could result in highly permanent removal of CO2 only exist as concepts or in very few pilot installations due to their high cost and lack of non-carbon revenue. By mapping the current public policy and pr...

The new discussion paper, with inputs from and for the Carbon Market Mechanisms Working Group, explores the ongoing discussions around setting crediting baselines for Article 6 market-based cooperation while securing NDC achievement and aligning carbon markets with long-term decarbonisation pathways. The authors identify opportunities for high envi...

This paper is meant as a handbook for negotiators from East Africa to make important contributions to the Article 6 negotiations and the finalisation of the rulebook to represent their priorities and circumstances. It provides a summary of the history and status of current Article 6 negotiations and identifies and discusses issues that are relevant...

Urban areas cause over 70% of direct and indirect CO2-emissions worldwide. To achieve the internationally agreed goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 to 2 ° C, considerable efforts to reduce emissions in cities are required. Mobilizing significant greenhouse gas reductions in cities is, however, a major challenge due to their ver...

NDCs and promote greater ambition, while at the same time fostering sustainable development and encouraging broad participation from both the private and public sectors. Market mechanisms are therefore seen as one important component in the collective action to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. In principle, the role of markets wi...

MRV standardisation and streamlining as well as accounting of HFC mitigation – including energy efficiency improvement – under the Kigali Amendment and Paris Agreement. There is a wide range of cooling sector-related baseline and monitoring metholodogies in the context of different crediting mechanisms (e.g. the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or...

International carbon markets, especially baseline and credit systems, are an important component of international climate policy, and enshrined in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. We analyse the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding containment, emergency response and recovery policies on key economic sectors in developing countri...

As the international community’s best expression of a collective vision of a desirable future, the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a framework against which to assess the broader impact of emerging technologies. Implications of technologies and practices for removing CO2 from the atmosphere (CDR) are not fully understood and ha...

Transparency plays a decisive role in ensuring both the integrity and success of market-based cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The study “Promoting transparency in Article 6” develops recommendations for ongoing UNFCCC negotiations to design a coherent and robust reporting and review cycle for market-based cooperation. With the d...

In the context of crediting mechanisms for emission reduction projects, methodologies define how to set the crediting baseline, to test additionality, and to monitor and quantify emission reductions. They are therefore crucial for ensuring the environmental integrity of the carbon credits issued. The over 250 methodologies approved under the Clean...

Wird Deutschland bis zum Jahr 2050 klimaneutral oder nicht doch eher treibhausgasneutral beziehungsweise CO2-neutral sein? Eines ist klar: Wir wollen den Klimawandel stoppen, haben uns dafür ein Ziel gesetzt und wollen es bis 2050 erreicht haben. Aber was genau eigentlich: Was hat sich Deutschland, was die Europäische Union und viele andere Länder...

The synthesis study provides evidence-based insights into the results and impact of REDD+ measures that have been designed, financed, and implemented by or on behalf of German actors. It is the first inter-ministerial study by the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) that encompasses measures commissioned by three different Federal M...

Ensuring access to sustainable energy is equally relevant for both sustainable development and climate change mitigation. Mobilising private finance in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries will, in turn, be of crucial importance for achieving both Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – which calls for universal energy access – and climate change mit...

This policy analysis examines the role of the World Bank in shaping and stimulating international carbon markets. Adopting a public choice perspective, we argue that its engagement can be understood as a response to the joint goal of reputational and financial benefits. The detailed empirical account of the Bank’s activities – from its pioneering r...

The Paris Agreement has been celebrated as a breakthrough for international climate policy. However, relatively scant attention has been given to the emergent ecosystem of climate finance facilities that support it. We provide an overview of the rising number of climate-related trust funds at multilateral development banks (MDBs). These funds can b...

In countries with low and middle incomes, a large share of the urban poor depends on their daily incomes from informal work for their survival. Lockdown policies do not take that into account. In Ländern mit niedrigen mittleren Einkommen braucht ein großer Teil der Armen ihr tägliches Einkommen zum Überleben. Ausgangssperren nehme darauf keine Rück...

Export credit agencies (ECAs) are either private companies operating on behalf of their country’s government or are governmental agencies themselves which in either case, provide support to promote domestic companies' international export of goods and services. ECAs are a hitherto under-researched contributor to lock-in of fossil fuel infrastructur...

Sustainable development (SD) co-benefits have increasingly become relevant in the discussions about the performance of international carbon market mechanisms. Actually, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol always had the formal objective to promote SD. However, the principle of sovereignty has prevented mandatory rules to ens...

Deforestation and forest degradation are major contributors to climate change. The international REDD+ framework aims to mitigate climate change by rewarding developing countries for conserving and sustainably managing their forests and for enhancing forest carbon stocks. This report synthesizes the existing evidence about the relevance, effectiven...

Major new multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) have entered into force in 2016, including the Paris Agreement (PA) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, the Kigali Amendment (KA) to the Montreal Protocol with a phase-down s...

What's holding up the Article 6 negotiations? Can differences be resolved at the 25th Conference of Parties (COP25) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change? This policy paper explains the crunch issues in Article 6 negotiations in generally accessible language. It sheds light on the key differences between negotiating Parties on the eve of...

In 2016, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). The scheme requires participating airline operators to purchase carbon offset credits to compensate for the increase in their carbon dioxide emissions from international flights above 2019/2020 levels...

The year 2018 saw the emergence of a broad social movement demanding stringent policies for climate change mitigation in Europe and other world regions. Widespread meteorological extreme events consistent with rapid global warming are stoking this movement. Especially in Europe, it has already changed the political landscape in a number of countrie...

The Paris Agreement will greatly benefit from the past experience with international market mechanisms for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and related regulatory systems, which have gone through four periods with specific challenges. The first period 1997–2004 operationalized the mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Develop...

This paper analyzes the implications of different interpretations of additionality for the market mechanisms under Article 6 and reflects on options how to anchor further additionality provisions in the negotiation text. The authors find that several quality criteria of mitigation outcomes are often discussed under the term additionality, but they...

Momentum is increasing globally for the implementation of carbon pricing as a means to cost-efficient climate mitigation. At the same time, carbon pricing, whether through an emissions trading system or a carbon tax, often faces contestation and public resistance. Against this backdrop, the present study investigates key aspects in policy design an...

Together with Climate Focus and Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Perspectives has analyzed how Article 6 market mechanisms can be designed to incentivize mobilization of private financing and to reorient global finance flows towards low-carbon development and climate resilience in line with Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement. On the inter...

The Paris Agreement requires mitigation contributions from all Parties. Therefore, the determination of additionality of activities under the market mechanisms of its Article 6 will need to be revisited. This paper provides recommendations on how to operationalize additionality under Article 6. We first review generic definitions of additionality a...

This short policy-oriented study seeks to contribute to the elaboration of the rulebook for carbon market instruments under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The tax on market mechanism activities (officially called “Share of Proceeds (SOP)”) is a key topic and priority for the African Group of Negotiators and other alliances. The objective of the...

Following the positive response from readers, the study has been updated to reflect the dynamic process made in operationalizing Article 6. It contains additional information and highlights ongoing developments in Article 6 pilot activities supported through bilateral channels, regional organizations and multilateral development banks. The authors...

The ambitious long-term target of the Paris Agreement (PA) can only be achieved if private sector action on climate change is scaled up and global finance flows are reoriented towards low-carbon development and climate resilience. Public climate finance alone will be insufficient to incentivize this structural shift, and governments will need to tr...

The report evaluates the foundation “Future for the Carbon Market”, focusing on three different aspects: the foundation’s general concept and strategy, its supported projects / activities, and an outlook on the three remaining years in its lifecycle. The German foundation has the objective to support programmatic approaches in international carbon...

The role of market mechanisms was far from certain in the lead up to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference. The use of ‘constructive ambiguity’ led to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, with Article 6.2 specifying a mechanism with limited international oversight, and Article 6.4 establishing a ‘Sustainable Development Mechanism’ (SDM) subject to detaile...

Available online at https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/how-can-existing-national-climate-policy The research project “Perspectives of Linking Emission Trading Systems – Possibilities to Transition National Climate Programmes into an ETS” seeks to analyse and evaluate non-ETS climate policy instruments, such as carbon taxes or green certi...

The research project “Perspectives of Linking Emission Trading Systems – Possibilities to Transition National Climate Programmes into an ETS” seeks to analyse and evaluate non-ETS climate policy in-struments, such as carbon taxes or green certificate trading schemes, regarding their suitability to serve as a basis for establishing emission trading...

In this study commissioned by GIZ, Perspectives’ authors discuss how to finance HFC mitigation beyond the KA commitments. They propose an integrated approach of public finance and international market mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Perspectives and the Senegalese consultancy Afrique Énergie Environnement find a carbon tax with careful redistribution as most promising carbon pricing opportunity for Senegal.

At COP24 in December 2018, Parties adopted a large part of the so-called “rulebook” operationalizing the articles of the Paris Agreement and the accompanying decision 1/CP.21. Due to lack of consensus on several contentious topics surrounding accounting, integrity and ambition, the rules for the market mechanisms under Article 6 have been postponed...

24th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC

• While there is a vast toolbox of regulatory and financial policy instruments for climate change mitigation, its application requires robust political will. • The IPCC Special Report on the 1.5°C target specified in the Paris Agreement shows that greenhouse gas mitigation ambition needs to be raised drastically to keep the target of global net zer...

Analyses of the international climate change regime consider the challenges of maintaining current structures and the possibilities for creating new forms of international cooperation. The current international climate change regime has a long history, and it is likely that its evolution will continue, despite such recent setbacks as the decision b...

This report explores the potential implications which two groups of experimental technologies aimed at managing global climate risk, known as Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering, could have for delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report is based on a review of recent literature, combined with expert analysis and insights p...

This report was funded by the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative (C2G2) and prepared in partnership between C2G2, Climate Strategies (CS) and Perspectives Climate Research (PCR). The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) has served as independent academic partner. Any views expressed in this report are solely those...

In order to mobilize the volume of mitigation required to reach a global emissions path consistent with 1.5°C, policy instruments need to be much more stringent than they have been to date. They will have to ensure full decarbonization of key economic sectors within one generation, which will require retirement of high-carbon assets before the end...