By Fundi Maphanga, Policy Lead at AlliedOffsets

On 24-25 February, I had the pleasure of joining the 10th Technical Subgroup Meeting (SGT-MRV) of the Pacific Alliance in Bogotá, at the invitation of Gold Standard and the SGT-MRV. My intervention focused on how AlliedOffsets is supporting Pacific Alliance countries to strengthen the governance architecture of their national carbon markets, under the Improving Access to Climate Finance tier of the GS4GG Pacific Alliance Support Program.

Key Discussions: MRV Systems, Carbon Pricing and Environmental Safeguards

This engagement, based in Bogota and hosted by the Government of Colombia, dove right into the technical complexities of developing high-integrity carbon markets. The sessions, attended by the Pacific Alliance governments of Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Ecuador as a guest participant to the Subgroup as well as private and third sector consultants, focused on critical topics such as:

• Strengthening national MRV systems and the work of government technical teams that underpin submissions to Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs)
• The political and technical realities of advancing carbon pricing instruments - with Chile, and Mexico advancing ETS designs this year,
• Environmental safeguards - and how embedding them in legislation can prevent perverse incentives, particularly through VVB oversight & accreditation.
• National GHG inventory screening to inform carbon budgets for corresponding adjustments (ITMOs).

AlliedOffsets’ Role Supporting Pacific Alliance Policymakers

Since 2023, AlliedOffsets has been part of this journey to provide critical data insights to policymakers of the Pacific Alliance.

Since then, the policymakers have taken critical steps to develop regulatory and institutional capacities, including:

Chile

• Drafting regulations (“Reglamento Artículo 6”) to define ITMOs, authorisation procedures, governance, and integrity safeguards; Switzerland-Chile Article 6.2 cooperation framework being embedded in domestic law.
• Singapore - Chile Implementation Agreement (2025) establishes a framework for authorising projects and transferring correspondingly adjusted credits, including transparency requirements and adaptation funding provisions.
• Chile positioning itself as a regional Article 6 hub, mobilising >$100M across early mitigation projects and building a bilateral cooperation pipeline.

Peru

• RENAMI registry formalised (D.S. 010-2024-MINAM) as the national MRV and carbon market registry, enabling Article 6 cooperation, voluntary market participation, and double-counting safeguards.

• Singapore–Peru implementation agreement established a Joint Committee and methodology pre-approval system (>12 GS, Verra and PACM methodologies).

• First Article 6 project (Tuki Wasi clean cooking) registered under the Peru–Switzerland framework, signaling early operationalization of cooperative approaches.

Mexico

• Transitioning from the pilot ETS (launched 2019) toward full operationalisation of the national emissions trading system.

• Scheme expected to cover >300 industrial facilities, with compliance likely to allow offset/compensation credits within the system.

Colombia

• Resolution 418 (April 2024) reorganized governance of the RENARE carbon registry, strengthening oversight and credit tracking.

• RENARE reactivated July 2025, supporting registry integrity and credit issuance.

• Carbon tax remains the primary pricing instrument, allowing the use of eligible carbon credits for tax compliance, with ETS implementation planned for 2026.
  
  

Accessing climate finance under carbon markets starts with the transparency of national and international carbon market activity, from project developer to end buyer.

Transaction activity visibility allows Pacific Alliance countries mobilizing greater finance to ensure that justice and environmental integrity remain central.

With all of the tools presented to policymakers from private sector actors, the real climate action will ultimately be driven by strong political will to turn technical readiness into implementation.

We are very grateful for the hospitality of MinAmbiente Colombia and Environment and Climate Change Canada for their steadfast support on this engagement.

The hard work continues.