The paper “Preparing for the ICA process: Required efforts and capacities needed” assesses how Non-Annex I Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) can best prepare for the International Consultation and Analysis (ICA) of their Biennial Update Reports (BURs), and what efforts and capacities might be required as part of their preparation. It draws upon project experiences from the Information Matters (IM) project and from Non-Annex I Parties’ experiences gained during the first rounds of ICA sessions, comprising the Technical Analysis (TA) of the first BURs of 33 countries and the Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV) of 30 countries as of July 2017. It describes the ICA process, its components and the existing experiences with the rounds of ICA that have taken place so far. It then suggests how countries may prepare for their participation in the ICA process by identifying necessary preparation steps and related capacity needs, taking into account UNFCCC requirements. Finally, it offers recommendations on how to take into consideration the outcomes of the ICA in future reporting. This paper does not constitute any documentation under the UNFCCC nor is it endorsed by the UNFCCC.