Article 6.4 Sustainable Development Tool

A web-based workspace for preparing the official Article 6.4 Sustainable Development Tool forms.

The tool helps project teams complete the UNFCCC Article 6.4 SD Tool Excel forms through a clearer browser interface, then exports completed official-template Excel files for review and external use.

Live deployment:

https://unmai-a64-sd-tool.vercel.app

Overview

The Article 6.4 Sustainable Development Tool is used to assess sustainable development impacts and environmental and social safeguards for activities under the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism.

The official process relies on detailed Excel workbooks. These workbooks are important, but they can be difficult to complete consistently because information has to be entered across several linked forms and sections.

This project provides a local-first browser workflow for preparing those forms. Users enter project information through a guided interface, and the application writes the information into the official Excel templates.

The tool currently supports:

• A6.4-FORM-AC-015: Environmental and social safeguards risk assessment
• A6.4-FORM-AC-016: Environmental and social management plan
• A6.4-FORM-AC-017: Sustainable development impact form

What This Tool Does

The application supports project teams by:

• loading the official Excel templates included in the project;
• capturing project details, safeguard answers, risk assessments, mitigation measures, monitoring indicators, SDG impacts, Host Party priorities, and evidence references;
• syncing relevant AC-015 risk answers into AC-016 management-plan rows;
• exporting completed AC-015, AC-016, and AC-017 Excel workbooks;
• exporting a local ZIP bundle containing project data, completed forms, and evidence metadata;
• reopening a previously exported project bundle.

The tool does not submit data to UNFCCC, a DOE, a registry, or any external system. It only prepares files locally for later use in the appropriate external process.

Why It Is Useful

The official Excel forms are detailed and can be time-consuming to complete manually. This tool reduces that operational burden while keeping the official workbook format.

Key advantages:

• saves time when preparing Article 6.4 SD Tool forms;
• reduces manual Excel navigation and copy-paste errors;
• keeps information consistent between AC-015, AC-016, and AC-017;
• provides clearer completeness checks before export;
• keeps project data local in the browser;
• produces files in the expected official Excel format.

How It Works

1. Open the web app.
2. Enter the activity details.
3. Complete the AC-015 safeguard risk assessment.
4. Sync relevant Yes and Potentially answers into AC-016.
5. Add mitigation measures, monitoring indicators, and evidence references.
6. Complete the AC-017 sustainable development impact assessment.
7. Download the completed Excel files or a full project ZIP bundle.

The exported Excel files are based on the official templates stored in:

public/templates/

Real-World Validation

A first real-world validation case has been added using public ETM/CMARK-4 project documents.

Reference project:

Buriram Rubber Plantation Carbon Sequestration & GHG Emission Reduction Project, Thailand

The validation process used public AC-015, AC-016, and AC-017 PDF references. The same project data was recreated in this tool, exported to Excel, and compared against the public reference values that could be extracted from the PDFs.

Validation result for compared fields:

Item	Result
Compared fields	36
Exact matches	36
Mismatches	0
Match rate	100%

This confirms that the tool correctly generated the tested official Excel outputs for the mapped fields in this real project case.

Validation Limitations

The ETM/CMARK-4 validation is a PDF-to-Excel comparison, not a full Excel-to-Excel comparison.

Known limitations:

• The public AC-016 PDF contains instruction pages, but not filled project management-plan data.
• Original completed Excel workbooks for the public project were not available.
• The strongest final validation would compare original completed Excel files directly against tool-generated Excel files.

Public completed Excel files were searched for. The only public AC-016 Excel file found was the blank official template, not a completed project workbook.

Technical Validation

The project includes automated tests for the Excel export logic.

The tests check that:

• AC-015 risk questions are parsed without duplicate merged-row entries;
• AC-015 answers and risk-assessment text are written to the correct official cells;
• AC-016 management-plan rows stay aligned with the official workbook structure;
• AC-017 Host Party priorities, SDG impacts, indicators, and monitoring values export correctly;
• extra indicators are not silently dropped when the official template has limited space;
• the ETM/CMARK-4 validation case matches the supported PDF-derived reference values.

Run the test suite:

npm test

Run the ETM/CMARK-4 validation case:

npm run validate:etm

Local Development

Install dependencies:

npm install

Start the development server:

npm run dev

Open:

http://localhost:5173/

Build for production:

npm run build

Preview the production build:

npm run preview

Project Structure

.
├── public/
│   ├── templates/                 Official Excel templates used for export
│   └── unmai.jpg                  UNMAI logo used in the interface
├── reference_projects/
│   └── etm_cmark4/                Public validation case and comparison outputs
├── scripts/                       Validation scripts and test cases
├── src/
│   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── excel.ts               Excel import/export logic
│   │   ├── formMaps.ts            Form metadata and default project structure
│   │   └── types.ts               Shared TypeScript types
│   ├── main.tsx                   React application
│   └── styles.css                 Application styling
└── package.json

Template Handling

The official Excel templates are treated as the source of truth for output structure. The tool fills mapped cells inside those templates rather than recreating the workbooks from scratch.

If UNFCCC releases new versions of AC-015, AC-016, or AC-017, the templates should be replaced and the export mappings should be retested before the tool is used for project work.

Privacy and Data Handling

The app is designed as a local-first tool.

• No account is required.
• No backend database is used.
• Project data stays in the browser unless the user downloads or shares exported files.
• Evidence files are only included when the user adds them and exports a ZIP bundle.

Users are responsible for managing any confidential project data and deciding where exported files are stored or shared.

Current Status

The tool is ready for structured validation and project preparation workflows. It has passed local automated tests and a first public real-project comparison for supported mapped fields.

The remaining validation step is to obtain original completed Excel workbooks from a real project and run a direct Excel-to-Excel comparison.

Important Disclaimer

This tool is not an official UNFCCC submission platform and does not replace review by activity participants, validators, verifiers, host Parties, DOEs, or relevant authorities.

It does not provide legal, validation, verification, or compliance advice.

Users should always confirm requirements against the latest official UNFCCC Article 6.4 documents and templates.

License

MIT