The Glasgow COP26 outcomes
demonstrate a strong political signal from the global community of the urgent
need to accelerate progress to ensure that the world can fulfil the fundamental
goals of the Paris Agreement. For the enhanced transparency framework (ETF), further
technical work on the modalities, procedures and guidelines for the ETF was
completed, with tables, outlines and other formats for the reports agreed.
With the recent conclusion of the terms of
reference of the Consultative Group of Experts (CGE) at COP26, CGE is now poised to play its
role in making further progress and enhancing international collaboration so
that countries are in a position to implement the enhanced transparency
framework. To inform the key stakeholders on its current and future work and seek
their feedbacks, the CGE virtually organized its fourth informal forum on 8
December 2021. More than 100 experts worldwide participated in this forum. They
included both country experts and support providers
from various organizations involved in the implementation of the existing measurement, reporting and verification
(MRV) arrangements under the Convention and the ETF under the Paris Agreement. The
discussions will
feed into the development of CGE’s work programme for 2022 – 2026.
The Deputy Executive Secretary of the
UNFCCC secretariat, Mr. Ovais Sarmad, the Chair of the CGE, Ms. Virginia Sena, and
the Chair of the Subsidiary Body for the Implementation, Ms. Marianne
Karlsen laid out the key messages and ETF-related achievements at COP 26 and
shared their expectations on this informal forum and the CGE’s future work.
The CGE used innovative approaches and
methods to successfully implement its workplans for 2020 and 2021, which
resulted in:
- Training
609 national experts through 14 virtual regional hands-on training workshops;
- Reaching
709 experts, through webinars on key thematic issues;
- Developing,
translating and disseminating online training resources, which included
animation videos, technical handbooks, and hands-on exercises; and
- Compiling
and summarizing capacity-building needs for the preparation of national communications
and biennial update reports.
Participants shared their reflections on the
achievements and lessons learnt of the CGE, and requested the CGE to continue
its support on MRV and ETF in 2022 and beyond. One participant highlighted the added
value of the virtual webinars/workshops organized by the CGE in the last two
years. According to her, these virtual
events helped broaden the engagement of national experts from line agencies which
would not have been possible otherwise due to the limited number of
participants from each country when the events were organized as in-person. The
sharing of materials and recordings also allowed more people to benefit from
these events. She hopes the CGE can organize more of such webinars/workshops in
future.
Participants also informally
reflected and exchanged views around the experiences on domestic political
buy-in, capacity-building and access to finance, which are critical to
sustaining national efforts to enhance reporting under the Convention and the
Paris Agreement. For example, participants shared some emerging needs for
capacity building, such as training on the reporting tables, outlines and other formats for ETF agreed at
COP26. One country shared how they received financial support from their
international MRV/ETF support provider partners by conducting a need assessment
of the governmental agencies and request for very specific supports, etc.
Participants
also proposed some areas that they wish the CGE to take into consideration for
the development of its workplan. The key messages from this forum will be
utilized to inform the CGE’s future
workplan thereby ensuring that the activities rolled out respond to the needs
of developing country Parties on their important journey to implement the MRV
arrangements and use that as a foundation to prepare for and implement the ETF.
Event video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2FRH2ZNmc
More info: https://unfccc.int/event/4th-informal-forum-of-the-consultative-group-of-experts