UN Supervisory Body opens the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism to clean cooking projects

The Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, which oversees the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism, has approved two new methodologies for household cooking. The first covers more efficient wood- and charcoal-burning cookstoves. The second supports a broader switch to cleaner, lower-emission cooking. Together they define which projects qualify, how emission reductions are calculated and monitored, and which checks are required before credits are issued. Both apply the Body’s existing standards, which require credits to reflect real, additional and conservatively calculated reductions.

The UNFCCC estimates that around 2.1 billion people still cook over open fires or on inefficient stoves using polluting fuels. Cleaner cooking can lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduce pressure on forests and cut household air pollution. Supervisory Body Chair Mkhuthazi Steleki said the decision combines a new pathway for cooking projects with safeguards intended to build confidence in the mechanism.

The Body also adopted the first version of a tool for assessing reversal risk in clean cooking and other activities that reduce the use of non-renewable biomass. The tool accepts that emission reductions from these activities may be reversed and requires those reversals to be addressed. Without it, credits could remain counted after the underlying reductions had been undone, which would create inconsistencies across successive NDCs. Countries may use country-specific values for natural risks where suitable data exists. The tool will be updated as evidence improves, and later versions are expected to cover other activity types.

With these additions, PACM methodologies now address emissions of all three major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. This delivers on the Body’s 2026 priority to bring a broad range of key sectors into the mechanism. The Body will present its annual report at COP31, where Parties may clarify or expand its mandate and guide future work on methodologies and market rules.

Signals to watch

• A major supply category returns under UN rules: Clean cooking has been one of the largest sources of voluntary carbon credits and one of the most debated, with long-running concerns about over-crediting. A methodology approved under PACM gives projects a high-integrity route to A6.4ERs, provided they can meet stricter baselines and monitoring requirements. Developers should expect lower issuance per stove than under legacy voluntary standards and should re-run project economics on that basis.
• The reversal tool is the real innovation: Treating avoided non-renewable biomass as reversible is a significant accounting step. It is likely to bring buffer contributions or similar remediation obligations, which will reduce net creditable volumes. Host governments with good forest and biomass data can use country-specific risk values to their advantage, which makes national data a competitive asset.
• Transition opportunity for existing portfolios: Cookstove activities moving over from the CDM, along with voluntary-market projects seeking upgrades, now have a methodology to transition onto. Investors holding cookstove assets should check eligibility and the cost of moving to PACM methodologies.
• Demand linkage: A6.4ERs authorised for international mitigation purposes can serve compliance and CORSIA buyers looking for credits with UN backing. Corporate and airline buyers have avoided cookstove credits on integrity grounds, so it is worth watching whether PACM cookstove credits trade at a premium to voluntary equivalents.
• Host-country action required: Countries with large clean cooking potential, particularly in Africa and South Asia, will need to update authorisation frameworks, NDC accounting and corresponding-adjustment policies to capture this pipeline. The co-benefits for health, gender and forests strengthen the sustainable development case.
• COP31 mandate: The annual report to Parties at COP31 may reshape the Body’s methodology priorities. Watch for guidance on which sectors come next and any refinements to non-permanence rules.