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News : Enhancing the Technical Assistance and Support for The Existing MRV Arrangements and The Enhanced Transparency Framework

Technical resources for implementing the measurement, reporting and verification arrangements under the Convention and the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement.
Enhancing the Technical Assistance and Support for The Existing MRV Arrangements and The Enhanced Transparency Framework

Speakers from left to right: Henning Wuster (ICAT), Milena Gonzalez vasquez (GEF), Minyoung Kim (UNFCCC-GIR-CASTT), William Agyemang-Bonsu (UNFCCC Secretariat), John Christensen (UNEP DTU Partnership).

With the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the Katowice Climate Package, the efforts of Parties to further enhance the transpanrency of climate action and support will be increased significantly. This will be achieved through the enhanced transparency framework (ETF), established under the Paris Agreement, that builds on and enhanced the existing measurement, reporting and verification arrangements (MRV) under the Convention As a result, there is a wide acknowledgement by the global community that developing countries will require increased financial, technical and capacity-building support.
A side-event, in the form of a panel discussion, showcasing the support (financial, technical, and capacity-building) provided to developing countries for participation in the existing MRV arrangements under the Convention and the ETF  under the Paris Agreement, was held on Monday 24 June on the margins of June 2019 Climate Change Conference (SB50) in Bonn.
The panel discussion, moderated by the UNFCCC secretariat, included a panel of experts involved actively in supporting developing countries in this area.  The experts provided their perspective of how countries can use the ETF as part of their efforts to implement and further develop their NDCs.  They also shared key lessons learned and best practices in ensuring that the support provided contributes to the sustainability of the national MRV arrangements and helps countries as they move towards implementing the ETF.
Ms. Milena Gonzalez Vasquez (Global Environment Facility) presented the financial and technical support opportunities made available through the GEF, including the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency – a funding window established in response to the request from COP 21 and plans for support for preparation of biennial transparency reports. She highlighted that developing countries could submit projects that help strengthen and prioritize their capacity to implement the enhanced transparency framework. The CBIT database contains a publicly list of projects submitted to date. As of June 2019, 48 projects received US$74 million of CBIT funds, with 17 projects in the implementation phase.
Mr. Stanford Mwakasonda provided further details on the on-the-ground support provided through the GEF-funded Global Support Programme.  The programme, implemented jointly by UN Environment and UNDP, provides support to developing countries to meet their national communications and biennial update reports reporting needs. He emphasized that it is important for countries to establish a legal framework (an overarching climate change policy, strategy or act) that provides the basis for legally defining the role of stakeholders such as universities and national statistics offices can play in the national MRV system.
Ms. Minyoung Kim of the Greenhouse Gas inventory & Research Center of Korea (UNFCCC-GIR CASTT) described the specific support measure offered, in partnership with UNFCCC, to developing countries to build their expertise in establishing or improving their national GHG inventories. She explained that the training programme covers aspects such as the reporting and technical analysis process under the UNFCCC, GHG inventory compilation including sectoral GHG estimation methodologies and development of country-specific GHG emission factors
Mr. Henning Wuester described the country-tailored tools and support made available to policy-makers and national experts by the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT)to assess the impacts of their climate policies and actions; to develop effective and ambitious climate policies; and to mobilize investment. He provided examples of the support initiatives they have undertaken for developing countries in the past for developing reporting capacity such as the development of sustainable land and land use indicators for the land use sector.
Mr. John Christensen highlighted the range of tools (legal, institutional, procedural and capacity-building) made available by the UNEP DTU Partnership to support developing countries build a national system for implementing the enhanced transparency framework.
The panellists explained that their webpages contain information on how to access their support offering and highlighted that tools and guidance documents are freely available on their websites. 
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With the adoption of the Paris Agreement the and the Katowice Climate Package, the efforts of parties to further enhance the transparency of climate action and support will be increased significantly. This will be achieved through the enhanced transparency framework (ETF), established under the Paris Agreement, that builds on and enhanced the existing measurement, reporting and verification arrangements (MRV) under the Convention As a result, there is a wide acknowledgement by the global community that developing countries will require increased financial, technical and capacity-building support.