Internationally transferred mitigation outcomes
Also called: ITMO · Topic: Environment and Sustainable Development · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs) are emission cuts that one country transfers to another under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement. The buying country counts them towards its own NDC, which is its national climate pledge. The selling country must make a corresponding adjustment. This means it removes the transferred cut from its own accounts so the same reduction is not counted twice. This lets countries cooperate on cheaper emission cuts without inflating global progress.
Example
Suppose Japan funds a clean-energy project in India and receives ITMOs from it. India must then subtract those tonnes from its own NDC accounting. In 2023, India notified its list of activities eligible for such transfers.
Don't confuse with
- Article 6.4 mechanism (PACM): a UN-supervised crediting mechanism under the Paris Agreement, with rules finalised at COP29 (2024). Article 6.2 ITMOs come from direct country-to-country deals.
- Clean development mechanism: the older Kyoto-era system of credits, called CERs. It did not require corresponding adjustments.
Related concepts
- Internalisation of externalities
- Carbon pricing
- Green tax
- Social cost of carbon
- Internal carbon price
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Cap-and-trade
- Carbon market
- Compliance carbon market
- Voluntary carbon market