Carbon credits in Morocco: ISO 14064-2 projects and Article 6

What is a carbon credit, and where does it come from?

A carbon credit represents a quantity of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduced or removed from the atmosphere by a project, quantified under a published method, verified by a third party, then recorded under a unique serial number in a registry. It does not come from a purchase: it comes from a project that has delivered.

The chain is always the same. A project developer (a plant, a municipality, a farm, an energy developer) runs an activity that emits less than a baseline scenario, or that stores carbon. It measures the difference over a given period. An independent body verifies the result. The programme that governs the project then issues the credits in its registry. Finally, the buyer has them retired in its own name, for the period and use it declares: a retired credit can no longer be resold.

Three families of frameworks coexist as of 11 November 2026:

• independent voluntary programmes, which publish their methodologies and run their own registries; their credits are mostly used for voluntary corporate offsetting;
• the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (Article 6.4), run under the authority of the Parties by a United Nations supervisory body;
• cooperative approaches between countries (Article 6.2), where one country transfers mitigation outcomes to another, which counts them towards its nationally determined contribution (NDC).

This guide starts with the standard that structures project quantification, ISO 14064-2, then describes the Moroccan framework as it reads on official sources, and ends with the rules of use for a manufacturer or exporter. Offsetting within a carbon neutrality approach is covered in our ISO 14068 carbon neutrality guide; the full service is on our carbon neutrality ISO 14068 page.

What does ISO 14064-2:2019 require for a carbon credit project?

It requires a planned project, a justified baseline scenario, identified sources and sinks, documented monitoring and traceable quantification of reductions or removals. It sets no sector methodology and no issuance rule: that is the job of the programme you choose.

The full title is “ISO 14064-2:2019 — Greenhouse gases — Part 2: Specification with guidance at the project level for quantification, monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emission reductions or removal enhancements”. It is the second edition, published in April 2019 by subcommittee ISO/TC 207/SC 7; it replaced ISO 14064-2:2006, now withdrawn. The text runs to 26 pages and is available in English, French and Spanish (iso.org, checked 11 November 2026).

According to iso.org, it covers:

• planning a GHG project;
• identifying and selecting the GHG sources, sinks and reservoirs relevant to the project and to the baseline scenario;
• monitoring, quantifying, documenting and reporting project performance;
• managing data quality.

Two points from iso.org matter to a project developer. First, the ISO 14060 family is GHG programme neutral: if a GHG programme applies (a crediting mechanism, a registry, a regulation), its requirements come on top of the standard’s. Second, ISO 14064-2:2019 was confirmed in 2024 but is under revision: draft ISO/WD 14064-2.2 is at stage 20.60 on iso.org as of 11 November 2026. The 2019 edition remains current; no content or date for the next edition has been announced.

How does ISO 14064-2 fit with the other standards?

ISO 14064-1:2018 and ISO 14067:2018 are also under revision (drafts at stage 20.60 as of 11 November 2026). The organisational inventory is explained in our ISO 14064-1 requirements guide, verification in our ISO 14064-3 verification guide.

How does a carbon credit project run, from idea to retirement?

In seven steps, including two third-party checks: validation before implementation, verification after each monitoring period. Exact names vary by programme; the logic does not.

1. Choose the programme. Article 6.4 mechanism, cooperative approach between countries or voluntary programme: the choice sets the accepted methodologies, the eligibility rules, the registry and, in Morocco, whether a national authorisation is needed (see below).
2. Write the project plan. Activity description, boundary, selected sources, sinks and reservoirs, baseline scenario and its justification, quantification method, risks.
3. Get it validated. A third-party body reviews the plan before or at the start of implementation. ISO 14064-3:2019 separates validation, which covers a future statement, from verification, which covers past results.
4. Implement and monitor. Meters, lab analyses, operating logs, calibrations: every data point in the monitoring plan must be produced, kept and traceable.
5. Report the results. A monitoring report quantifies the reductions or removals for the period, with uncertainties.
6. Get them verified. The third-party body issues an opinion on the statement. Whoever designed the project or produced the data cannot verify it.
7. Issue, transfer, retire. The programme issues the credits in its registry; they are transferred to the buyer, then retired in its name for the declared use.

The issues that sink projects are nearly always the same: a poorly justified baseline, additionality not demonstrated (would the reduction have happened without credit revenue?), permanence not addressed for a removal (what if the forest burns?), and double counting (the same tonne claimed by two entities or two countries).

Which projects are possible in Morocco?

Morocco’s participation form for the Article 6.4 mechanism, published by the UNFCCC, lists among the activities the country is considering approving former projects of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): wind farms, concentrated solar power, biogas recovery at wastewater plants and landfills, fuel switching from heavy fuel oil to biomass and heat recovery in industry. It also refers to a positive list going beyond the NDC actions, including green hydrogen. For a manufacturer, the usual sources are therefore energy efficiency, fuel switching, biogas recovery and renewable electricity.

One important caveat: a reduction achieved at your own plant already lowers your carbon footprint. If it becomes a credit sold to a third party, you can no longer claim it in your own environmental claims or use it to offset your own footprint. We settle this point in writing before any sales contract.

What does Article 6 of the Paris Agreement change for carbon credits?

It makes the host country a market player: a mitigation outcome achieved in Morocco and used by another country, or by a buyer that wants an “authorised” credit, requires an authorisation decision from Morocco. Without it, the tonne stays counted in Morocco’s own contribution.

According to the UNFCCC, Article 6 has three components:

Two concepts hold these together. Authorisation is the host country’s decision to let a unit be used outside its NDC; according to the COP29 summary published by the UNFCCC, the authorisation statement sets out, among other things, the entity, the use covered, the vintage and the conditions for changes, so as to avoid double counting. A corresponding adjustment is the accounting entry by which the host country removes the transferred tonne from its own balance. For the Article 6.4 mechanism, the same summary states that the host country may authorise all or part of the reductions (with a corresponding adjustment) or not authorise them; non-authorised units become “mitigation contribution units”.

The Article 6.4 rules were adopted by decision 3/CMA.3. According to the UNFCCC, 130 countries had designated a national authority as of 1 September 2026. The rules keep being refined at each session of the Parties; we read them as they stand on the date of each project.

What is Morocco’s carbon credit framework as of 11 November 2026?

Morocco has designated its national authority for Article 6.4, announces a national Article 6 framework in its NDC 3.0 and is preparing a climate law; it has not yet filed an initial report or an authorisation on the UNFCCC platform.

Here is what we read on official sources on 11 November 2026:

The NDC 3.0, submitted to the UNFCCC on 30 September 2025 for 2026-2035, targets a 53% reduction in GHG emissions by 2035 against the business-as-usual scenario (21.6% unconditional, 31.4% conditional on international support). It also mentions a national carbon tax “under consideration” and national players working to structure a voluntary carbon market; neither is an adopted scheme at that date.

What is still missing, as of 11 November 2026, is the texts themselves. The national Article 6 framework is not published; according to the presentation of Morocco’s first Biennial Transparency Report, given on 9 November 2026 at the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 65, Antalya) and published by the UNFCCC, it is at its seventh version, two draft decrees accompany it (governance and authorisation), the national Article 6 registry is under development with support from the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT), and no ITMO has yet been issued or transferred. The climate law has not been adopted: draft law No. 62.25 on climate change and the organisation of the carbon market is among the texts open for public comment on the website of the Secretariat General of the Government. According to its explanatory note, it would create a “national carbon market registry”, an electronic platform that would record project ideas and emission reduction projects, as well as the authorisations to implement them and to transfer mitigation outcomes internationally, and would track the issuance, ownership and transfer of carbon credits to prevent double counting; it also provides for a national recognition system for validation and verification bodies. Until these texts are adopted and published in the Official Bulletin, we advise getting written confirmation from the national authority before signing a contract to sell “authorised” credits.

How can you use carbon credits without greenwashing?

By keeping them for the footprint that remains after your reductions, choosing them against written criteria, and never using them to present a product as neutral to EU consumers.

ISO 14068:2026 — Climate change management — Carbon neutrality (formerly ISO 14068-1:2023) sets the hierarchy: according to iso.org, emission reductions and enhanced removals within the value chain come first, and offsetting only counterbalances the residual footprint. Its detailed criteria for credits are in the text of the standard, sold by ISO.

On the EU consumer side, Directive (EU) 2024/825 of 28 February 2024 has applied since 27 September 2026 (Article 4, read on EUR-Lex on 11 November 2026). Point 4c, which it adds to Annex I of Directive 2005/29/EC, bans in all circumstances claiming, based on the offsetting of emissions, that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact in terms of GHG emissions. According to its recital 12, a company may still publicise its investments in carbon credit projects, as long as the information is not misleading. Details are in our article on EU Directive 2024/825 and environmental claims.

For the reduction plan that must come before any offsetting, see our decarbonisation strategy page; for the starting footprint, our carbon footprint ISO 14064 page.

Is your project or your credit purchase ready?

Review both lists with management, quality, purchasing and your legal counsel before any commitment.

Before buying credits

• Your footprint is calculated under a standard cited with its edition (ISO 14064-1:2018 for the organisation, ISO 14067:2018 for a product).
  
• A reduction plan exists and its first results are measured.
  
• The quantity bought matches the residual footprint of the declared subject, for a given period.
  
• Each batch has a published methodology, third-party validation and verification, and a serial number in a registry.
  
• The type (reduction or removal), vintage and location of the project are known and will be stated in the claim.
  
• Retirement will be in your name, for the declared period and use.
  
• No offset-based product claim is planned for EU consumers.
  

Before launching a project in Morocco

• The programme is chosen, with its methodology and eligibility rules.
  
• The baseline and additionality are justified in writing.
  
• The monitoring plan specifies each data point, its instrument, frequency and owner.
  
• The validation and verification body is independent of those who designed the project.
  
• The need for an Article 6 authorisation has been put to the national authority in writing.
  
• How the reduction is treated in your own footprint and claims is decided before the sale.