Background
The Paris Agreement established the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) to promote clarity and understanding of climate action and support. The operationalisation of the ETF is guided by the modalities, procedures and guidelines (MPGs) and corresponding common reporting tables, common tabular formats and outlines. The 3 core components of the ETF are reporting through the biennial transparency report (BTR), technical expert review (TER) and facilitative, multilateral consideration of progress (FMCP).
Countries that are Parties to the Paris Agreement are expected to submit their first BTR by 31 December 2024 and every two years thereafter. However, owing to their special circumstances, least developed countries and small island developing States can submit this report at their discretion. The process to prepare a BTR and products stemming from it will:
- Enable countries to build a stronger evidence base to identify needs and set priorities on how to strengthen climate policies over time,
- Send donors and investors a clear signal about the scale of opportunity, as well as needs,
- Provide a better assessment of collective global progress on climate action, and where more action and support are needed, and
- Include greenhouse gas inventories and information on tracking progress towards achieving NDCs, helping to build trust and enabling countries to prepare for the next round of NDCs, due in 2025.
In a nutshell, the process of the preparation of BTR can be a vital enabling tool for all governments as it can provide crucial data to help make informed decisions, design stronger climate policies over time, attract climate finance and achieve broader development goals. In line with UNFCCC guidelines for streamlined reporting, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will be preparing a combined report that integrates both the First Biennial Transparency Report (BTR1) and the Third National Communication (TNC) to ensure consistency and reduce duplication.
Upon request of the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ Sustainable Development Unit (SDU), the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency-Global Support Programme (CBIT-GSP) agreed to provide technical support to the national team of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to prepare for its first Biennial Transparency Report. This note outlines the scope and timeline of the requested technical support. The technical support and work of the national team will build on and take into account the following ongoing and planned activities.
Objective
The technical support will aim to fast-track the preparation of the Reports of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines by developing the capacity of and assisting the national team, key stakeholders, and data providers through different stages of preparation.
Components of support
The technical support will include 2 stages:
- Stage 1 - In-person engagement in the form of a three-day workshop in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The main objective of the workshop will be to engage in interactive exercises to promote learning of concepts of the MPGs as they relate to preparing Biennial Update Reports. The exercises will be designed in a manner that results in stock-taking of existing processes and data in the country that can be used as a basis to build on for the BTR work. The workshop will be held from 21 to 24 July 2025.
- Stage 2 - Mentoring phase: It is expected that the consulting team will be deployed to gather and prepare necessary data and information based on the roadmap developed in Stage 1. Depending on the need, the mentoring sessions will include a combination of periodic in-country visits by an external expert and virtual meetings with external experts whereby the external expert(s) provide hands-on advice and technical input to the national team. The exact timing of the mentoring sessions will be decided at a later stage, depending on the progress of the work of the national team in preparing the BTR.