Why carbon markets have not yet closed basic-service gaps — and how nationally coordinated programmes under Article 6 could
Carbon finance has helped bring clean cooking, safe water and off-grid electricity to hundreds of millions of households. Yet delivery has largely followed where project developers operate, rather than where national need is greatest.
Closing the Gap examines why results-based commitments remain uneven across clean cooking, electricity, drinking water and sanitation, and how Article 6 of the Paris Agreement could help host countries coordinate delivery at national scale. It argues that, for water and sanitation, clearer quantified, finance-conditional mitigation commitments could help turn existing national priorities into investable programmes, supporting progress on both climate and the Sustainable Development Goals.
