What Enhanced Transparency Framework?
- The Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) for action and support is a central component to the design, credibility and operation of the Paris Agreement
- Specifies how parties to the agreement must report on progress in climate change mitigation, adaptation measures and support provided or received. It also provides for international procedures for the review and evaluation of those reports.
- The Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) agreed at Katowice builds on and enhances existing Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) arrangements
The Paris Agreement
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Katowice builds
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The ETF includes three elements:
- Reporting: There are two mandatory requirements; greenhouse gas inventories, and progress tracking of NDCs. Developed countries must also provide support to developing countries in the form of finance, technology transfer, or capacity building.
- Technical review: This verifies the information provided by countries. The aim is not to be intrusive, but to build a country’s capacity over time, helping it to identify information gaps and capacity building needs.
- Multilateral facilitative consideration: This is for nations to inform the international community about what they are doing and share best practice and experience. Transparent information on the progress of a country’s efforts also promotes accountability.
What is global stocktake?
- Under the Paris Agreement, the first global stocktake will happen in 2023.
- It will assess whether the net result of the climate actions being taken was consistent with the goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature from pre-industrial times to within 2 degree Celsius.
- While every country is required to participate in the global stocktake, the exercise will not assess whether actions of any individual country are adequate or not. It will only make an assessment of the “collective” efforts of the world. That is because the climate actions are supposed to be “nationally determined”, and nations have problems over being told by others what they should do.
- In accordance with the demands of developing countries, the stocktake will cover not only the results of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but of actions being taken to adapt to the effects of climate change as well.
- It will also include an assessment of whether developed countries are offering adequate help to developing countries by providing money and technology, as mandated by the Paris Agreement.
- The other thing to be included in the stocktake is the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations-backed scientific body that reviews all published climate science in 5-6 year cycles and draws conclusions from them.
- There was some debate over the frequency of the global stocktakes. Countries like India preferred a 10-year period, while the EU and some others demanded a five-year cycle.
