UN body approves two clean cooking project methodologies ahead of COP31

The UN body overseeing the Paris Agreement's carbon crediting mechanism has adopted two new methodologies for household cooking, creating a regulated pathway for cleaner cooking projects to generate UN-backed carbon credits ahead of a critical review at the UN Climate Change Conference in Turkey in November, it said Oct. 9.

"This decision gives cleaner cooking projects a new pathway under the UN carbon market, with clear rules to ensure that each credit represents a real and credible emission reduction," said Mkhuthazi Steleki, chair of the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body.

One methodology covers more efficient wood- and charcoal-burning cookstoves, while the second supports a broader shift to cleaner, lower-emission household cooking. Both set out qualification criteria, emission reduction calculations and monitoring requirements, and verification checks before credits can be issued.

"We have a clear mandate ... to build a high-integrity mechanism that supports the goals of the Paris Agreement," Steleki said. "These methodologies put that mandate into practice, combining pathways for cleaner cooking projects with robust safeguards that support confidence in the mechanism."

The new methodologies bring cleaner cooking into a mechanism that previously covered landfill gas, nitrous oxide from nitric acid production and grid-connected renewable electricity. Together, the mechanism now spans activities reducing emissions from carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- the three major greenhouse gases.

Article 6.4 sets out rules for a carbon crediting mechanism under which an entity can reduce emissions in one country, have the reductions credited, and then sell them to another entity in another country. Progress on Article 6.4 has taken almost a decade of negotiations involving governments, policymakers and carbon market participants.

Reversal risk

The reversal risk assessment tool addresses a fundamental question in carbon markets: whether emission reductions credited under the mechanism can subsequently be undone, exposing buyers and the broader system to integrity risks.

"The tool will be updated as stronger evidence and improved data become available, with future versions expected to cover other types of activities," the body said in a statement. "Countries may use country-specific values for natural risks where suitable data is available, allowing the approach to reflect national circumstances while maintaining consistent accounting."

At COP31, the Supervisory Body will also present its annual report to the Parties to the Paris Agreement, who may clarify or expand its mandate and guide future work on new methodologies and market rules.

The clean cooking sector has been a focal point for Article 6.4 since the mechanism issued its first-ever credits in February from a Myanmar cookstove project.

Cookstove projects reduce emissions by displacing dirtier fuels, but the permanence of those reductions depends on whether households continue to use cleaner devices.

Clean cooking projects help generate carbon credits. Companies and governments in industrialized countries buy the credits to help meet their climate targets by financing projects in non-industrialized countries. Improved cookstoves, which use cleaner fuels, are considered more efficient and help cut emissions of harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases. However, some cookstove projects have faced criticism for overestimating their benefits, leading to the overissuance of carbon credits.