What does the Paris Agreement’s transparency framework mean for LDCs?

Webinar

IIED hosted a webinar to discuss how least developed countries are proactively working at national level to put the goals of the Paris Agreement into practice. The online event focused on their experiences of the implications of the new transparency framework for LDC practitioners

Online
Last updated 19 August 2020
A farmer bends down to inspect his crops on a field.

Trials of drought tolerant beans in 2016 in Malawi, which was suffering from its worst drought in three decades. Experts from Malawi are among those in the webinar reporting on their experiences implementing the Paris Agreement (Photo: Neil Palmer/CIAT, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Paris Agreement offers a global framework to work together to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The implementation of the agreement – which officially starts in 2020 – is critical to increase ambition, achieve net-zero emissions and improve climate resilience.

Least developed countries (LDCs) are the most affected by climate change, yet contribute the least to it. Undeterred by this unfair burden, they are proactively working at national level to put the goals of the Paris Agreement into practice. They are designing long-term, low-carbon development strategies, reporting on progress towards their mitigation and adaptation actions, and finding new solutions to the adverse effects of climate change.

This webinar was the first in a series bringing together practitioners from LDCs with global practitioners, technical experts and other stakeholders to share their experiences in implementing frameworks and national policies, including the opportunities and challenges in bringing the Paris Agreement to life. Speakers also shared how COVID-19 has affected implementation activities.

The Paris Agreement establishes a new framework, common to all countries, to track progress towards achieving their global emission reduction commitments. This new transparency framework is crucial to build trust and confidence among countries, increase ambition and encourage the climate action needed to limit warming to 1.5C.

This enhanced set of reporting rules present the LDCs with new technical and financial challenges, but may also offer new opportunities to build capacities, enhance national monitoring systems and improve domestic policies.

Based on the experience of current transparency arrangements, this webinar aimed to increase understanding of the implications of the new framework for the LDC practitioners. It focused on sharing experiences and lessons learned from implementation of the present reporting framework that could inform the upcoming process.

It included an overview from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat of the new reporting requirements and the views of LDC national experts from Malawi, Liberia and Sudan working on their countries’ reporting processes.

Event coverage

IIED researcher Fernanda Alcobé wrote a blog reporting on the discussions during the webinar

You can also see a video recording of the complete event below, including the question-and-answer session with webinar participants, and on IIED's YouTube channel.

Three of the presentations are also available as individual videos as follows:

About the speakers

Yamikani Idriss is the environmental officer responsible for environmental planning, monitoring and research in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining in Malawi. He is also a climate change negotiator and a technical expert reviewer to the UNFCCC.

Rehab Ahmed Hassan is the coordinator for Sudan's Third National Communication, and a member of the Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources.

Charles Asumana is the national project coordinator of Liberia’s First Biennial Update Report (BUR-1) project. He is responsible for overseeing the project's implementation, including the provision of technical assistance to the national technical expert groups, under UNEP supervision. He is also a technical expert reviewer to the UNFCCC.

Xuehong Wang is the team lead of the International Consultation and Analysis Support Unit at the Transparency Division of the UNFCCC Secretariat. She has 10 years’ work experience on reporting and review under the UNFCCC process, including coordinating technical reviews of various national reports submitted by Parties.

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