UN Climate Change News, 21 October 2020 – As part of its ongoing transparency-related technical support to developing countries, the Consultative Group of Experts (CGE) has prepared a series of informative videos that explain how countries can transparently communicate their climate actions.

The videos were developed as part of a set of training materials for a new series of CGE regional workshops that were launched on 13 October 2020. The workshops will provide training on existing measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) arrangements under the Convention, as well as on the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement.

By communicating information on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and actions to reduce them, as well as on adaptation and means of implementation such as finance, technology cooperation and capacity-building, the transparency and reporting system allows to understand ambition and progress on climate actions and support by countries. As such, transparency is important in the context of achieving the climate objectives and goals as set out in the Convention and the Paris Agreement.

The four short videos explain what the existing MRV arrangements and the ETF mean. They  introduce the existing MRV arrangements and the ETF, highlight key reporting provisions, explain some of the key cross-cutting foundational elements, and show some examples of linkages between the ETF and the rest of the elements under the Paris Agreement. Translated videos in French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian languages are currently being prepared and will also shortly be uploaded on the same link.

The aim of the new series of workshops is to boost the understanding and technical capacity of national experts and practitioners from developing countries in implementing the existing MRV arrangements. This is especially important in view of supporting developing countries to fully prepare for the implementation of the more demanding reporting requirements under the ETF of the Paris Agreement. The workshops will give participants the opportunity to directly articulate which aspects of the existing MRV system need to be strengthened to support implementation of the ETF. Participants will also have the opportunity to identify gaps and capacity-building needs to plan for and start preparing for the implementation of the ETF.  

To ease active participation and interactive discussions, the seven regional training workshops will be conducted in different languages and accommodate the different time zones of the relevant national experts and practitioners.

For more in-depth information on the arrangements for transparency of climate actions, please consult these training reference materials. These include: a) Technical handbook for developing country Parties on Preparing for implementation of the enhanced transparency framework under  the Paris Agreement (here); b) Handbook on institutional arrangements to support MRV/transparency of climate action and support (here) ; and c) Handbook on Measurement, reporting and verification for developing country Parties (here).

The link to all four videos can be found here.

The Consultative Group of Experts (CGE) assists developing country Parties in fulfilling their reporting requirements under the Convention, and supports the implementation of the enhanced transparency framework under Article 13 of the Paris Agreement. This includes facilitating the provision of technical advice and support to developing country Parties to prepare their biennial transparency reports and providing technical advice to the secretariat on the implementation of the training of technical expert review teams.

More information on the CGE can be found here.