Transparency of climate action and support is key to building trust and confidence that all countries are contributing their share to the global effort. 2025 is a significant year for global climate change planning and implementation with new milestones in countries’ reporting requirements.
With the 2024 deadline for the first Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), the global climate community crossed a historic threshold in implementing the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework. This milestone marked not only the operationalization of a more robust climate reporting regime but also a pivotal moment for countries to reflect on progress, identify gaps, and generate data-driven insights.
As countries are also now preparing their next Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) the information, lessons, and trends emerging from the BTRs offer a critical evidence base to inform more ambitious, realistic, and implementable climate targets. The 2025 update of countries’ NDCs are expected to reflect a higher level of ambition and detail – driven by the urgency of the climate crisis and the outcomes of the first Global Stocktake, which highlighted the need for more aggressive action to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Transparency underpins both the NDC and the BTR processes, yet in many countries they are not well aligned and are implemented as separate workstreams. This creates extra burdens for countries and limits mutual benefits. Integrating the two can help create climate plans that are effective, transparent, data-driven, and aligned with broader national goals.
“Strong climate reporting is a vital enabling tool for governments and economies. It helps build a stronger evidence base to strengthen climate policies and outcomes. It also helps identify funding needs and investment opportunities, thus enabling countries to seize the huge benefits of shifting to clean energy and climate resilient economies,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell.
“Later this year, before COP30, UN Climate Change will be publishing the first BTR Synthesis report, providing important insights into key drivers of implementation and barriers to overcome.”
Many countries face challenges in building sustainable transparency frameworks aligned with national development priorities. This requires transitioning from ad-hoc reporting to government-led transparency systems with strong institutional arrangements, legal frameworks, reliable data, and technical expertise. Targeted support to strengthen national systems and enhance the capacity of local experts can be a catalyst of progress.
In this context, global climate transparency partners are organising the second Global Transparency Forum (GTF) in Songdo, Incheon City, Republic of Korea from the 3rd to 5th of September.
The GTF will provide an opportunity for countries, development partners, and transparency practitioners to exchange experiences, reflect on lessons learned from the first BTR submissions, and explore how transparency efforts can effectively inform the development of their NDCs. The GTF will also strengthen partnerships, enable dialogue on best practices, and identify opportunities for enhancing support under the Enhanced Transparency Framework.
With over 100 participants, primarily from developing countries, the main objectives of the Global Transparency Forum are to:
⮚ Encourage knowledge exchange on BTR preparation and the Technical Expert Review process to help improve future submissions.
⮚ Explore how transparency can support NDC preparation, implementation, tracking, and climate finance mobilization.
⮚ Explore strategies for establishing strong government-led transparency systems with sustainable data, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and legal frameworks.
⮚ Enhance collaboration among stakeholders to advance the implementation of the ETF.
Ahead of COP30 in Belem, Brazil the activities of the GTF also coincide with the expectation that the world will set a higher annual goal for climate finance by 2025, building on the $100 billion target for 2020, to support developing nations implement their climate efforts.
Climate action transparency is essential for unlocking climate finance and supporting long-term development. Providing transparent climate action data helps countries attract and align international finance with national priorities.
The GTF will include a High-Level Dialogue with representatives from the COP29 and COP30 Presidencies and other stakeholders, as well as targeted technical sessions with expert speakers and facilitators.
“As countries prepare and communicate their next NDCs and BTRs, we need to build the capacity of developing country Parties to transition from ad hoc reporting approaches to government-led, systematic, and institutionalized processes for preparing and submitting national reports under the ETF,” said COP30 President-Designate André Corrêa do Lago.
Notes for Editors:
BTRs serve as the primary reporting vehicle for countries to communicate their climate action progress and support. BTRs include information on greenhouse gas emissions, policies and measures, progress towards targets, climate change impacts and adaptation, and support received and needed.
NDCs (also known as national climate plans and nationally determined contributions) submitted by countries under the Paris Agreement outline how each country intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to climate impacts, and mobilize the support needed to do so.
The Global Transparency Forum is hosted by the Government of the Republic of Korea and jointly supported by the United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency, the Partnership for Transparency on the Paris Agreement, the Global Environment Facility, the COP 29 Presidency of Azerbaijan, and the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency – Global Support Programme.