UN Climate Change News, 24 April 2020 - Experts coordinated by the UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat have been conducting important reviews and technical analysis of reports on climate action submitted by governments, working entirely in virtual mode due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The continuing work by the review teams and the UN ensures that the peer review processes by governments continues uninterrupted, thereby maintaining momentum to deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Transparency of climate action and support is a central pillar of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, given that actions have to be measured against specific goals, such as emission reductions or adaptation to the effects of climate change, while the implementation of countries’ climate action plans, known as NDCS, has to be assessed so that they can be improved over time.

Acknowledging the contribution of technical review and analysis experts, UN Climate Chief Patricia Espinosa said: “Your dedication to this process of the Convention is a remarkable example of multilateralism and global solidarity that shows we stand together and can continue to deliver strong results despite contending with a global emergency.”

A pool of 84 international reviewers, teams of transparency experts in 21 national capitals and a pool of review coordinators at the UNFCCC secretariat were connected from home via audio and video tools to review the reports submitted by governments.

The reviews are key for the preparation of the multilateral assessment (MA) for developed countries and facilitative sharing of views (FSV) for developing countries which are scheduled to take place during the next session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) 4 to 12 October 2020.

For developing countries, the focus during the meeting was on clarifying capacity-building needs, greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation actions, while for developed countries the focus was on national mitigation actions, achieving economy-wide emission reductions targets and provision of support for developing countries.

One expert who participated in the meeting commented: “It worked well because the team was very dedicated and responsive. We made the best out of the given situation and can really congratulate ourselves on the fruitful and meaningful review.”

Some experts, however, acknowledged that given the multiple challenges presented by remote reviews, not least due to unresolved internet connectivity issues in some parts of the world which can lead to possible delays in preparing review reports, working in virtual mode may not be a sustainable option in the long run, and should be seen rather as in interim solution to the current extraordinary circumstances.