UK, others to support climate action transparency in developing country

A new initiative under the Paris Climate Change Agreement to provide financial support for countries in meeting the agreement’s strict new reporting requirements is taking shape, with the first pledges made.

The strength of the new, universal climate change agreement is largely based on its robust transparency and accounting system, which will provide clarity on the actions countries are taking toward their goals, with flexibility for their differing capabilities.

Pledges of funding have come from the United Kingdom (USD 14.4million), Canada (USD 5 million) and the USA (USD 15 million over the next three years, subject to appropriations.) New Zealand has also announced an intention to pledge.

A new Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) was created under the Paris Agreement, clinched at the end of last year, to strengthen the capacities of developing countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements.

The transparency framework contains requirements that are critical to ensuring that countries are implementing the agreement, including the emission reduction targets that they put forward in 2015.

Countries are to provide regular updates on their progress towards reducing emissions, and on their support for others to address climate change. Countries are also encouraged to report on adaptation activities and climate impacts.

The agreement’s provisions on Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) are central to this transparency system. The transparency framework will provide countries and wider stakeholders with the information and feedback they need on actual progress to improve efforts and promote efficient and cost-effective policies, while also providing domestic and international accountability.

The CBIT is also designed to help countries develop better quality systems for tracking greenhouse gas emissions and to begin to build over time the necessary institutional and technical capacity to prepare transparent, accurate and timely reports.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) will administer the CBIT and the World Bank will serve as trustee. In April, the GEF organized a Consultative Dialogue on the CBIT to explore ways of enabling developing countries to strengthen internal capacities related to transparency in a sustainable way.