On 09 August 2022, the Fiji Ministry of Economy, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) launched Fiji’s Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) project in Suva. Over 80 participants representing senior government officials from several line ministries, civil-society organizations, academic institutions, private sectors, and several development partners joined the inception workshop.

As Co-Executing Agency and Technical Support Partner, GGGI is providing necessary expertise to implement the activity and deliver outputs in a manner that maximises the prospect of achieving the goals and outcomes of the CBIT project. GGGI is delivering Fiji CBIT project under the GEF grant of USD 1.4 million over 3-years period.

Fiji’s CBIT project will formalize and strengthen the country’s institutional arrangements for the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) to enable regular transparent reporting on NDC implementation and National GHG inventory. The project will also develop an IT-based GHG inventory preparation system that enables the Ministry of Economy to efficiently co-ordinate preparation of transparent, consistent, comparable, complete, and accurate National GHG inventories. Additionally, the CBIT project will strengthen Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems to enable Fiji in tracking and transparently reporting on NDC implementation and resultant GHG emissions and climate finance.

Mr Daniel Muñoz-Smith, GGGI’s Country Representative to Fiji, gave an overview of GGGI’s activities in Fiji and in particular supporting implementation of the Fiji Climate Change Act 2021. He noted that “GGGI will be implementing this three-year Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency or CBIT project with close cooperation with the Ministry of Economy under the Global Environment Facility Funding”. GGGI as Co-Executing Agency will engage GGGI’s technical advisors and specialists across the regions and from its HQ.

Mr Muñoz-Smith thanked UN Environment Program and the Global Environment Facility for providing the funding support. GGGI developed the concept with financial support from UNEP under a Project Preparation Grant.

Learning and experience from the Fiji CBIT will be shared with stakeholders and other countries in the Pacific region.