The third cycle of International Assessment
and Review was launched in March 2018.
Since 2014, the trust among all Parties has been built through the
implementation of the monitoring reporting and verification system. Wealth of experience was gained by climate
change experts and Parties by reviewing and multilaterally assessing national
reports of developed Parties and by analysing and facilitatively sharing views
on the national reports of developing Parties. The practice and lessons learned through these
processes informs the development of the Transparency Framework under the Paris
Agreement.
At the beginning of this year most
developed countries submitted their third biennial reports and seventh national
communications showcasing among other things:
·
Actions related to climate
change;
·
Progress countries are making
to achieve its target; and
·
Support provided to developing
countries.
Now it is time for expert review teams to
review these reports and verify Parties’ progress made.
In order to get ready, the lead reviewers (LRs)
of Biennial Reports and National Communications met in Bonn (28 February – 1
March 2018). The meeting aimed to facilitate the work of the LRs in fulfilling
their task of ensuring consistency of reviews across Parties under review. 64
experts attended the meeting, 33 from non-Annex I Parties and 31 were from
Annex I Parties. During the meeting experts shared their experiences when
reviewing Parties and agreed on approaches for the upcoming reviews. LRs
enjoyed a lot the practical exercises, which allow them to mock the review
activities.
The submissions from 26 Parties will be reviewed
in March–June 2018. The European Union and the Netherlands were the first two
Parties to receive expert review teams followed by Germany and the Czech
Republic. In the following months expert review teams will go to the capitals
of Australia, Canada, France, Hungary and Japan to assess the reported
information, meet with country experts and share experiences, success stories
and challenges when implementing the commitment of the UNFCCC.
The reviews are followed by the Multilateral
Assessment sessions, scheduled for SBI sessions in December 2018, June and
December 2019.