UN Climate Change News, 13 August 2020 – UN Climate Change has launched the first phase of an important transparency process on countries’ pre-2020 climate action. This first phase consists of a questions and answers period and follows on from an expert analysis of the reported information by countries earlier in the year.  

This first phase forms part of the Multilateral Assessment (MA) and the Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV) processes, which create interactive platforms for countries to share the latest information on their climate actions and engage in a constructive exchange of views.

In operation since 2014, these interactive processes play a crucial role in building trust among countries by enhancing the transparency of climate actions. They also form the foundation of the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Climate Change Agreement. 

Government representatives explain the benefits of the Multilateral Assessment.

By allowing countries to track progress of implementation, these processes ultimately help to raise ambition levels. Highlighting opportunities for increasing climate ambition is an important outcome of the process, as further emission reductions are needed in order to meet the central temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.

Following the expert analysis of reported information, this opening questions and answers period facilitates interaction between those countries presenting at the MA and FSV sessions and all other participating countries.

All 197 Parties to the UNFCCC can ask clarifying questions, ranging from the country's actions to curb GHGs and projections of future GHG emission trends, to its ability to meet its existing commitments and identify capacity building needs, provided that the questions are based on reported and expert-analyzed information.

National delegates can pose questions to the countries under the MA from 10 August up until 7 September 2020, following the guidance in the MA page.

The MA process will consider 10 developed countries which were reviewed in the beginning of 2020, namely:  Australia, European Union, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The FSV process will consider developing countries that have both submitted a report and published a summary report. More information on the participating countries will soon be available here.

Parties will be allowed to submit written questions to these countries using an online platform. The submission is expected to start in September and be open for one month.

The questions and answers period is followed by an interactive, in-session discussion of the findings and other information provided by the country under consideration, during which countries can ask further questions for clarification.

Given the uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent postponement of the climate change conferences to 2021, the Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) is considering, in consultation with Parties, timing and the best ways to remotely conduct both the MA and the FSV.

UN Climate Change will make further information available as soon as possible.