diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 95f44bc9930..1bc1eef716d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
   - Import path changed `import "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/export/metric"` to `import go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric/export` (#2382).
 - Deprecate `AtomicFieldOffsets`, unnecessary public func (#2445)
 
+### Fixed
+
+- Fixes the instrument kind for noop async instruments. (#2461)
+
 ## [1.3.0] - 2021-12-10
 
 ### ⚠️ Notice ⚠️
diff --git a/metric/sdkapi/noop.go b/metric/sdkapi/noop.go
index 986f5efec45..f22895dae6f 100644
--- a/metric/sdkapi/noop.go
+++ b/metric/sdkapi/noop.go
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ import (
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/number"
 )
 
-type noopInstrument struct{}
+type noopInstrument struct {
+	descriptor Descriptor
+}
 type noopSyncInstrument struct{ noopInstrument }
 type noopAsyncInstrument struct{ noopInstrument }
 
@@ -31,21 +33,33 @@ var _ AsyncImpl = noopAsyncInstrument{}
 // NewNoopSyncInstrument returns a No-op implementation of the
 // synchronous instrument interface.
 func NewNoopSyncInstrument() SyncImpl {
-	return noopSyncInstrument{}
+	return noopSyncInstrument{
+		noopInstrument{
+			descriptor: Descriptor{
+				instrumentKind: CounterInstrumentKind,
+			},
+		},
+	}
 }
 
 // NewNoopAsyncInstrument returns a No-op implementation of the
 // asynchronous instrument interface.
 func NewNoopAsyncInstrument() AsyncImpl {
-	return noopAsyncInstrument{}
+	return noopAsyncInstrument{
+		noopInstrument{
+			descriptor: Descriptor{
+				instrumentKind: CounterObserverInstrumentKind,
+			},
+		},
+	}
 }
 
 func (noopInstrument) Implementation() interface{} {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (noopInstrument) Descriptor() Descriptor {
-	return Descriptor{}
+func (n noopInstrument) Descriptor() Descriptor {
+	return n.descriptor
 }
 
 func (noopSyncInstrument) RecordOne(context.Context, number.Number, []attribute.KeyValue) {