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Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) on Climate Change

Full steam ahead in the first six months of the CBIT AFOLU+ project

First six months of the CBIT AFOLU project

©FAO

20/01/2025

The Global capacity building towards enhanced transparency (CBIT-AFOLU+)  project was launched in June 2024 and will run until June 2027. With a strong focus on country and regional level activities, the project has been very active since its launch.

In this period:

  • 300 people, of which 50 percent were women, attended training events in nine countries
  • 5 countries – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mongolia, Morocco, and Venezuela - had Quality Assessments (QA’s) of their draft first Biennial transparency reports (BTRs)
  • A new website was launched
  • An inception workshop was organised

“As countries increase capacity and information for addressing their transparency requirements, they will be able to reinforce their climate commitments in the forthcoming Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)3.0.”
- Mirella Salvatore, CBIT-AFOLU+ project coordinator.

High level transparency events

With a view to raising awareness about the importance of transparency, and fostering dialogue among stakeholders at all levels, the project team co-organized international and regional events such as:

The team actively participated in:

Country level support

Working at the country level to build capacity and foster an enabling environment is at the heart of the CBIT-AFOLU+ project’s efforts. Country activities in 2025 are still being planned so countries interested in transparency related support should contact: [email protected]

We also encourage you to join our discussion group to highlight what transparency related capacity building activities would be most relevant for your country in 2025.

Assisting countries with in-depth reviews of their Biennial transparency reports (BTRs)

Countries who signed the Paris Agreement need to submit BTRs every two years, with first submissions due by 31 December 2024. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mongolia, Morocco and Venezuela received assistance in conducting a detailed review of their draft BTR, focusing on the agriculture and Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sectors. The review covered the greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory estimation and associated Common Reporting Table (CRTs), as well as the NDC tracking and the adaptation chapters.

Capacity building activities

Several capacity building activities were delivered in collaboration with the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency - Global Support Programme (CBIT-GSP) in:

  • the Philippines where a package of activities focused on developing the GHG inventory for the agriculture and LULUCF sectors and the national GHG inventory system. Consultations to increase collaboration among the main stakeholders and institutions involved in preparing the BTR were also organised.
  • Bosnia-Herzegovina where a training workshop on “Enhancing GHG inventory development for the LULUCF sector” took place in July 2024. The workshop focused on applying the 2006 IPCC Guidelines and the IPCC inventory software to meet ETF requirements.
  • Morocco where national experts attended an online training session on the LULUCF GHG inventory and the use of the UNFCCC ETF reporting tool for the official submission of the GHG inventory in November 2024.

Capacity building activities delivered in collaboration with the FAO SCALA Programme included:

  • a workshop on “Enhancing climate change transparency in Mongolia: ETF training​” that took place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in September 2024. This activity built on previous activities of the CBIT-AFOLU project in the country.
  • a two-day GHG inventory training workshop in Nepal in September 2024. The workshop provided guidance on preparing the BTR and advancing Tier 2 roadmaps for livestock and rice emissions.

In collaboration with the national CBIT project in Mongolia, a workshop was organized in Sri Lanka in October 2024 to review key Monitoring, reporting and verification(MRV) concepts. It focused on the country’s challenges in collecting data for GHG inventories and assessing uncertainties.

Looking to the future

In some countries, preliminary activities focused on planning ways to improve transparency related systems and processes. For example, The CBIT-AFOLU+ team  provided support in defining the plan for improving Andorra’s GHG inventory in the LULUCF sector, specifically in land representation.

The project team, in collaboration with the FAO SCALA programme,  worked with national counterparts in the Côte d'Ivoire to assess the country’s MRV and Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, leading to the development of an action plan for improvement.

Increasing access to funding

Improving countries’ access to transparency related funding is an important part of the CBIT-AFOLU+ project’s work and vital for countries seeking to build capacity.

In the Philippines, the team has been working with the government to attract funding for the GEF project “Enabling the Philippines to prepare its Second Biennial Transparency Report with a combined Third National Communication (BTR2/NC3) and Second Biennial Transparency Report (BTR3)”.

In Viet Nam, the project helped set up an innovative remote-sensing-based approach for monitoring methane emissions from paddy rice through the development of a project funded by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).

Building on the FAO SCALA Programme’s activities, the CBIT-AFOLU+ team supported the formulation and approval of the GEF project: Enabling the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to prepare its First Biennial Transparency Report (BTR1) and a combined Second Biennial Transparency Report (BTR2) / Fourth National Communication (NC4) to the UNFCCC. In addition, support in implementing the project will be provided over the next three years.

New and improved tools

FAO’s transparency experts have been improving tools based on insights gained from their work with countries. New tools will be available in 2025 so sign up our newsletter to be the first to know when they are released.