Events

The Asian Regional Group of the Partnership on Transparency in the Paris Agreement (PATPA) is comprised of 23 countries from South and South-East Asia and the Pacific, represented by 20 Focal Points. On the 8th of December 2022, a virtual meeting took place, with the aim to stimulate an open dialogue between PATPA Asia Focal Points and provide an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning and exchange among all members on current challenges in climate reporting within the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF).

The objectives of the meeting were to:

• Share an update on the outcomes of COP27 related to the ETF and discuss their relevance on national level.
• Learn about the experiences and good practices of countries in climate reporting, related challenges, and lessons from strengthening institutional arrangements, preparing BURs, starting a BTR, linkages to NDC and LT-LEDS development and implementation, etc.
• Identify priority areas for accessing support to implement the ETF at the national level
• Establishing closer cooperation and communication among the group

The Outcomes of the COP27 related to transparency were presented by the coordinator of the Asia Regional Group, Mrs. Roziya Kirgizbekova to inform that the Training program on the review of GHG Inventory, BR and NC has been extended until the start of the BTR Review Training. For the voluntary review of information on climate change impacts and adaptation, parties may, on a voluntary basis, request the secretariat to organize a review of the information reported by the Party. Moreover, the UNFCCC Secretariat is developing reporting tools for the electronic reporting of common reporting tables (CRT) and common tabular formats (CTF) under the ETF. A training programme for the technical expert review of the BTRs is under development. The GEF is requested to provide financial and technical support for reporting and capacity building. By 30th of April 2023 parties are invited to submit views on how to address the challenges that developing countries face in implementing the ETF in a sustainable manner.

Mr Mirza Shawkat Ali, Director of the Climate Change and International Convention, Department of Environment of Bangladesh shared the work of Bangladesh in the preparation of the 1st BUR and the update of GHG inventory for 2013-2019, identification of mitigation actions, development of emission factors for irrigated rice and livestock. A platform to be launched for tracking mitigation and adaptation actions and an environmental data management system which is being developed. Preparation for the 1st BTR will be carried using the BTR Roadmap and Guidance Tool.

On behalf of the Ministry of Environment of Japan, Mr Sadamitsu Sakoguschi mentioned the support provided on capacity development through the Mutual Learning Program on Enhanced Transparency (MLP). The  Paris Agreement Article 6 Implementation Partnership was launched by Japan at COP27 to provide capacity development and sharing best practices for implementing Article 6.

The Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Center (GIR) of the Republic of Korea reported on organizing the annual CASTT Training Program on GHG inventory for 2023, jointly with UNFCCC Secretariat and supported by PATPA, to provide further capacity development support to developing countries.

The PATPA Asia Focal Points meeting highlighted what has been achieved so far by the PATPA Secretariat and partners in the Asia region and identified priority support areas, such as provision of technical trainings on GHG inventory, mitigation and MRV, BUR and BTR preparation and organization of in-person meetings.