UN Climate Change News, 22 January 2025 - Ninety Parties to the Paris Agreement have submitted their first Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), underscoring the commitment of nations to advancing the goals of the Paris Agreement through the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). These reports represent a critical effort by governments to establish robust systems for climate data collection and reporting, ensuring transparency in global climate action.
Transparent reporting is a vital enabling tool for all governments, providing crucial data to inform decision-making, design stronger climate policies over time and achieve broader development goals.
Special recognition goes to the 57 developing countries that have submitted their BTRs, including 13 Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. This important effort by the nations that are most vulnerable to climate impacts reflects their commitment to ensuring that the response to the climate crisis is guided by robust, evidence-based insights.
BTRs are central to the climate ambition cycle, tracking progress on national climate plans (known as nationally determined contributions or NDCs), fostering trust among Parties, identifying support needs and preparing countries for the next round of NDCs in 2025.
"Transparency is crucial, not only because it highlights progress in climate action but because it spurs more action: enabling data-driven responses that build resilience and protect vulnerable populations by identifying risks and vulnerabilities, and leading to better resource allocation," said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell at COP29. "Every submission, every lesson learned, brings us closer to the goals of the Paris Agreement."
Recognizing the critical importance of Biennial Transparency Reports, UN Climate Change urges all Parties that have not yet submitted complete BTRs to do so without delay.
Next steps
BTR submissions undergo independent technical expert reviews, which began last year with reviews of submissions from Andorra and Panama. These reviews involve a thorough assessment of each report, identifying progress towards NDC targets and capacity-building needs, and supporting Parties to improve future reporting.
Following the review of BTRs, the ETF's multilateral phase - known as Facilitative Multilateral Consideration of Progress (FMCP) - will encourage Parties to share experiences, successes, challenges and insights in implementing the Paris Agreement, driving global cooperation to deliver climate action and support.
Lessons learned from these processes will enhance countries' long-term capacity to collect and analyse data, inform policy decisions, and implement effective climate action. Additionally, reviews may enable Parties to attract climate finance by assessing market mechanism usage under Article 6 and REDD+ activities.
UN Climate Change plays a crucial role in supporting Parties through extensive training, including of expert reviewers, as well as joint capacity-building initiatives with partner organizations across regions. This enables countries to strengthen their transparency efforts and effectively meet reporting obligations.
