The United Nations' Methodological Expert Panel (MEP) convened its 13th session in Bonn from April 13–17, 2026, to assess public consultation responses on the first proposed bottom-up methodologies under the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) — the global carbon crediting framework established under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement. This session represents a critical milestone in the PACM's operational development: if adopted, these methodologies would enable project developers worldwide to register activities and issue UN-verified carbon credits under the new market.
The two proposals under MEP assessment are: first, a grid-connected renewable electricity generation methodology, derived from the CDM's proven ACM0002 and AMS-I.D. frameworks, designed to support wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects connected to national grids; and second, a nitrous oxide (N₂O) abatement methodology for existing nitric acid production facilities, which would be the first methodology submitted via the new bottom-up stakeholder process — where industry participants propose methodologies rather than waiting for UN bodies to develop them top-down.
A public consultation on both proposals closed on April 7, 2026, and the MEP's Bonn session assesses the contributions received. Following the meeting, the panel will provide recommendations to the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, which retains final approval authority. Adoption of both methodologies would unlock significant credit issuance potential: renewable energy projects have historically been among the most prolific CDM credit generators, and the N₂O abatement sector offers high-impact, cost-effective mitigation at industrial scale.
The timing of the MEP session carries additional urgency because the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) — the PACM's predecessor under the Kyoto Protocol — is in its final transition period. As the CDM winds down its crediting activities, project developers and host countries need viable Article 6.4 pathways to continue generating internationally recognised carbon credits. Delays in methodology adoption risk a crediting gap that would undermine both host-country revenue streams and corporate buyers' ability to procure high-quality, UN-supervised offsets.
Both proposed methodologies will impose monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) requirements that are more stringent than their CDM predecessors. The PACM's design places a premium on real-time, continuous data collection and tamper-proof reporting chains — precisely the infrastructure that digital MRV (dMRV) systems are built to provide. Projects seeking registration under the Article 6.4 renewable energy methodology will need grid metering data with independent verification, generation forecasts versus actuals, and robust additionality demonstration — requirements that manual, annual MRV approaches struggle to satisfy at competitive cost.
Article 6.4 operationalisation is the most consequential structural development in global carbon markets this decade. At TrustVal, we see the MEP's Bonn session as a positive signal that the UN's new market is moving from framework to function. The methodology review process establishes the technical floor that project developers must meet — and our dMRV platform is specifically designed to help project developers meet and exceed those requirements. Continuous sensor-based or satellite-based monitoring, automated MRV reporting pipelines, and cryptographically auditable data chains are not optional enhancements for PACM projects — they will be the baseline expectation.
Primary source: Carbon Credit Markets — Week 14, 2026 | UNFCCC MEP page
TrustVal's dMRV platform helps project developers build the digital monitoring infrastructure required by Article 6.4 and other high-integrity carbon market standards.