Measurement,
reporting and verification (MRV) and enhanced transparency framework (ETF) are
critical in achieving the objectives of the Convention and the Paris Agreement.
Despite the shadow cast by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the international
community continues supporting the implementation of MRV and ETF with great
effort.
The
Group of Friends on the MRV/Transparency is an informal network of stakeholders
providing financial, technical, and capacity-building support to developing
countries on MRV and transparency issues.
On
7 December, the UNFCCC secretariat and Institute for Global Environmental
Strategies co-organized the first Group of Friends regional meeting in the Asia
Pacific. This meeting provided international and regional MRV and ETF support
providers, that are active in the Asia-Pacific region, a platform to exchange
experiences and lessons learned on ongoing and planned MRV and ETF support
activities. 29 participants from 15 organizations/programmes shared their
project updates and exchanged their views and experience.
For
example, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies is implementing a Mutual
Learning Program for Enhanced Transparency with support from the Ministry of the
Environment, Japan. This program aims to support countries and organizations in
learning and practising reporting of climate actions over a 7-month period or
longer. The program’s current objectives are to understand how to apply the
reporting guidance under the Paris Agreement, explore what areas to improve in
the reports, including the first biennial transparency report (BTR), and
strengthen the network of institutions and individuals that are working on
BTRs. In 2021, eight organizations from five countries (Chile, Indonesia,
Mongolia, Japan, Thailand) participated in the program and worked on reporting
topics under Article 6.2 and Article 13 of the Paris Agreement.
To overcome COVID limitations, FAO developed and
rolled out a one-to-one 'mentoring modality' to support countries in addressing
the Enhanced Transparency Framework. This modality is featured
with weekly/bi-weekly calls over three to five months and training a dedicated
team on country-specific challenges with practical application and validation.
FAO has applied this modality in Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia,
Guinea, Sudan and Mexico and produced tangible outcomes. For example, FAO
supported Papua New Guinea in setting up a transparent climate data archiving
system. Other
participating organizations and programmes include European Commission, GIZ,
Global Green Growth Institute, Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, Initiative
for Climate Action Transparency, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
Ministry of the Environment Japan, NDC Partnership, New Zealand Agricultural
GHG Research Centre, Partnership on Transparency in the Paris Agreement/GIZ,
IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, United Nations
Environment Programme and the UNFCCC secretariat.
In
2022, the secretariat will organize a series of informal Group of Friends
regional meetings to bring together and provide a platform for exchange for
Group of Friends members and other organizations active in the respective
region to support developing countries in MRV and transitioning to the ETF.