Global Carbon Council (GCC) participated in the Türkiye Carbon Market Dialogue, contributing perspectives on the evolving global carbon-market landscape, Article 6 implementation, national carbon-market infrastructure, registry interoperability and the role of project-based carbon credits within emerging compliance systems.
Held under the patronage of the Republic of Türkiye Directorate of Climate Change, the dialogue brought together government representatives, international institutions, carbon-market experts, financial institutions and market participants to examine Türkiye’s evolving carbon-market architecture, including its Emissions Trading System, Article 6 opportunities, CBAM implications and pathways for financing industrial decarbonization.
Dr. Yousef M. Alhorr, Founding Chairman, Global Carbon Council, said:
“Türkiye is entering an important phase in the development of its carbon-market architecture. Building a credible market requires strong governance, high-integrity standards, transparent and interoperable infrastructure, and clear pathways connecting domestic climate action with international markets. GCC remains committed to supporting countries as they move from carbon-market readiness toward practical implementation.”
Building credible demand and supply pathways
In a technical presentation by Kishor Rajhansa, GCC highlighted the growing demand expected from compliance markets, particularly CORSIA and Article 6.2, and the importance of preparing credible supply, authorization systems and infrastructure capable of connecting domestic mitigation activities with international demand.
The discussion also considered emerging Article 6.2 demand from countries using international cooperation to support NDC compliance, carbon-tax mechanisms and other mitigation objectives.
GCC’s presentation reflected its international project experience, with 1,622 projects submitted from more than 53 countries and approximately 2.5 billion tonnes of forecast emission reductions across its portfolio. Türkiye is among GCC’s largest project-origin countries, with 356 project submissions reflected in the presentation.
Moving from readiness to implementation
A central focus of GCC’s contribution was the need for countries to move beyond policy readiness toward operational carbon-market infrastructure.
GCC highlighted common implementation challenges, including limited technical and institutional capacity, gaps in digital infrastructure, regulatory complexity around ITMO transactions, risks of double accounting and limited market liquidity.
GCC presented its Carbon Market Infrastructure (CMI) as an integrated approach connecting project registration, national registry functions and transaction infrastructure. The architecture is designed to support project and issuance workflows, host-country approvals, ITMO tracking, corresponding adjustments, transaction management and Article 6 reporting while maintaining national control over key decisions.
The CMI framework also illustrates how the Article 6.2 lifecycle can be managed from mitigation activity submission and project evaluation through government authorization, ITMO transfer, corresponding adjustment and Biennial Transparency Report-related reporting.
Integrating project-based credits with Türkiye’s evolving market
GCC also focused on how project-based carbon credits can complement an ETS when designed with appropriate safeguards.
Effective benchmarking is essential to maintain a credible allowance price, while eligible project-based credits can help provide liquidity where allowance supply is constrained. GCC emphasized the importance of ensuring that eligible projects are appropriately separated from the ETS boundary to avoid double accounting, alongside robust requirements covering additionality, vintage and the quantity of credits permitted for compliance.
The discussion further explored how Türkiye could establish a national carbon-market mechanism capable of supporting both domestic and international objectives. GCC outlined different pathways available to countries, including developing national mechanisms and working with approved international carbon standards while retaining sovereign control over applications, authorizations and transactions.
Interoperability as a foundation for credible markets
Registry interoperability was another key area of focus.
GCC emphasized the importance of enabling national registries, independent carbon standards and international systems to communicate effectively so that mitigation outcomes can move between markets while maintaining transparency, traceability and safeguards against double counting.
The infrastructure model presented by GCC demonstrated how national standards and approved international independent standards can connect with national carbon registries, domestic markets, international Article 6.2 markets and UNFCCC reporting systems.
GCC also highlighted core design principles for national carbon-market infrastructure, including digital integration, interoperability, scalability, alignment with UNFCCC reporting frameworks, transparency, security and sovereign control over project and methodology decisions.
Supporting Türkiye’s evolving carbon-market architecture
Türkiye’s evolving carbon-market framework reflects a broader global shift toward increasingly connected domestic and international compliance systems.
Through its participation in the Türkiye Carbon Market Dialogue, GCC shared experience from international carbon crediting, Article 6 implementation, national registry infrastructure and cooperation with governments across multiple regions.
With COP31 set to take place in Antalya, Türkiye, the dialogue also provided a timely platform to advance discussions on how countries can move from carbon-market readiness to implementation. The themes raised in Istanbul, including Article 6 cooperation, national registry infrastructure, interoperability and credible market design, are expected to remain central as governments and market participants prepare for COP31.
As countries develop their carbon-market frameworks, GCC continues to support approaches that combine high-integrity standards, effective national governance, transparent digital infrastructure and interoperability with international markets, helping translate climate ambition into credible implementation and measurable outcomes.
