How climate transparency can help transform agrifood systems and unlock financial resources

The Second Global Transparency Forum (GTF) was held from 3 to 5 September 2025 in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. It brought together a wide group of global stakeholders involved in strengthening climate transparency frameworks under the Paris Agreement. It also highlighted the important role of transparency in unlocking financial resources and transforming agrifood systems.

Participants reaffirmed the importance of collaboration, peer learning, and institutional strengthening as essential pillars for advancing transparency and ensuring that countries are well-prepared to meet their reporting commitments under the Paris Agreement.

About the Global Transparency Forum

The event’s main objective was to support developing countries in preparing their Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs); and provide a platform for sharing experiences from the first reporting cycle. By fostering collaboration, capacity building and knowledge exchange among a wide group of transparency stakeholders, the forum played a vital role in advancing more inclusive and ambitious climate action.

Its outcomes will help shape future climate reporting, and support countries in aligning their national efforts with global climate goals ahead of COP30 which will take place in November 2025.

About the High-level dialogue panel

The High-level dialogue helped frame the GTF’s technical discussions by providing strategic direction and political visibility. Speakers highlighted the impact of transparency on climate ambition, finance and implementation ahead of COP30. The important role of the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) as a driver of policy transformation was also emphasised.

The panel opened with speeches from high-level political and institutional leaders, followed by a panel discussion with representatives from key transparency support providers. FAO was represented by Ms. Mirella Salvatore, Senior climate expert and FAO transparency coordinator.

FAO ‘s role in strengthening climate transparency and unlocking finance

Ms. Salvatore emphasised that agrifood systems are at a pivotal moment and must transition to become more sustainable, low-emission, resilient, and gender-responsive in the face of increasing climate challenges. A key enabler of this transformation is access to climate finance, which depends on trust, accountability, and robust data systems.

However, access to finance in agriculture remains constrained by two critical gaps: the limited availability and quality of data, and the lack of robust monitoring systems. Without addressing these gaps, it becomes harder for countries to unlock resources and scale climate action where it is most needed.

Improving data systems is thus essential. To this end, FAO is supporting approximately 30 countries in accessing transparency-related funds from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). In addition, the Global capacity building towards enhanced transparency (CBIT-AFOLU+) project is providing technical assistance in enhancing country capacity to set up sustainable monitoring systems and formulate data-driven policies for agrifood systems.

Ms. Salvatore reiterated that “transparency allows governments to design better climate policies, monitor their impact and align actions with climate goals. It is not only about emissions reporting but also about providing evidence of the social, economic, and environmental outcomes of interventions”.

FAO is thus playing a crucial role in helping countries strengthen both the technical and institutional aspects of national transparency frameworks. FAO’s objective goes beyond compliance with reporting obligations under the Enhanced Transparency Framework. Countries must also use transparency as a driver of climate ambition — unlocking climate finance, strengthening national systems and making reporting a tool for impact.

Transparency is about shaping the future and empowering countries - especially in the agriculture sector - to translate ambition into action.

A space for sharing insights and experiences

The GTF created a space for representatives from countries that have received support from FAO, as well as the FAO transparency coordinator,  to meet in person and share insights and experiences.

They discussed the implementation of their national GEF-funded CBIT and Enabling Activity (EA) projects, reviewed key challenges and capacity needs, and outlined strategies to ensure the timely preparation and submission of the second BTR in 2026.

These exchanges also served to gather feedback from countries supported by the Global CBIT-AFOLU+ project, identify priority capacity-building activities and explore new opportunities for collaboration with other partners active in the country.

Reflecting on the forum, country representatives emphasized the importance of regional dialogue and peer support in advancing transparency goals.

“This Global Forum was an excellent platform to share knowledge and lessons learned from country experiences, particularly on the preparation and submission of the first BTR and the technical review process. It highlighted the importance of strengthening institutional arrangements and establishing ETF systems for collecting and managing national GHG inventory data, as well as tracking progress on the Nationally Determined Contributions to enhance consistency and ensure transparency in climate action and support reporting.”

- Ms. Ambika Tennakoon, Environment Management Officer/Decision Support Specialist, National CBIT Project, implemented by the Climate Change Secretariat of the Ministry of the Environment, Sri Lanka. 

“The Forum was a unique moment to learn from each other and reflect on gaps and needs. It allowed me to connect with peers from neighbouring countries, who offered support by sharing their experiences and lessons learned.”

-  Mr. Julio Cabanerit, Director of the Observatorio de la Crisis Climática, Ministerio de Ecosocialismo, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

“The event highlighted the importance of formalizing strong institutional arrangements at the national level to ensure the continuous production of these reports. It was inspiring to hear how this process was carried out in both developed and developing countries.”

-  Ms. Lekzang Dorji, Project Coordinator of the EA project for the BTR preparation, Bhutan

“Institutionalizing data collection is key to achieving transparency. Regional collaboration and peer discussions on challenges and gaps are very useful in identifying practical ways to overcome them.”

- Mr. Ananda Khadka, Forest Survey Officer at the Forest Research and Training Centre, Nepal