Republic of Malawi · Carbon Market Office An EAD service · Est. 2025
Malawi Carbon Market Office

How to participate

Who may develop a mitigation activity in Malawi, what the Office expects, and where to start.

Any legally constituted entity may develop a mitigation activity in Malawi — a national or international private company, a public entity, a state-owned enterprise, or a non-governmental organisation. Individuals not representing a legally established entity may not.

Whichever route you take, the first step is the same: register on the Malawi Carbon Registry System and obtain a participant identification number.

01 Choose a route

Three pathways, three activity cycles.

Read the cycle for your route before you register — the templates and fees differ.

Cooperative approaches

Article 6.2 — authorized by Malawi, registered nationally, sixteen steps end to end.
The Paris Agreement mechanism

Article 6.4 — supervised by the UNFCCC, with Malawi approving as host Party.
Voluntary carbon market

Gold Standard or VERRA, with an Article 6 attribute or without one.
02 What is expected

The principles every activity must uphold.

Assessed when your idea note is reviewed, and again when the design document is examined.

  1. 01
    Environmental integrity

    Real reductions, verified before issuance, with double counting prevented by a corresponding adjustment.

  2. 02
    Contribution to sustainable development

    Assessed on environmental impact, economic viability, technological feasibility, scalability and long-term sustainability.

  3. 03
    Social and economic co-benefits

    Poverty reduction, job creation, income and energy security, health, resilience and transfer of technical know-how to local experts.

  4. 04
    Gender equality in design and implementation

    Promoting equal opportunities and equal benefit for women and men.

  5. 05
    Public consultation and an independent grievance process

    Stakeholders must be consulted on sustainable development, and must be able to reach a grievance channel independent of the developer.

  6. 06
    Partnership with local companies and investors Optional

    Strongly encouraged of international participants wherever and as often as possible.

Article 6 Framework, sections 3.3 and 5.1.

03 The paperwork

Templates you will use.

The Framework provides every form as a template. These are the ones a developer submits — the remainder are used by the Government for reporting.

Article 6 Framework, Annex I. Templates C, D, H, I, J, M, O and P are issued by the Government rather than submitted to it.
Template Purpose Route
A Application to register as a participant Article 6.2
B Mitigation Activity Idea Note Articles 6.2 and 6.4
E Mitigation Activity Design Document Articles 6.2 and 6.4
F Request for authorization and registration Article 6.2
G Request for authorization of a voluntary activity Voluntary with adjustment
K Monitoring report Articles 6.2 and 6.4
L Request for examination of a verification report Article 6.2
N Request to issue mitigation outcomes Article 6.2
Talk to the Office early

Eligibility, methodology and additionality are all assessed at the idea note stage — before you invest in a full design document. It costs nothing to ask first, and a great deal to find out afterwards.

Start here

Register, then send an idea note.

Registration takes the Office five to ten business days. Check your activity against the eligibility criteria while you wait.

Check eligibility Talk to the Office →