Your excellencies, colleagues and friends.
Transparency is a pillar of the Paris Agreement.
By reporting honestly on both progress and setbacks, countries build the trust needed to turn collective ambition into real climate action.
Countries do this through biennial transparency report (BTRs). Over 100 countries have submitted BTRs to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with UNEP supporting more than 40 to do so. Through these reports, the global community takes stock of national and collective progress towards achieving Paris Agreement goals. A key mechanism to do this will be through the upcoming global stocktake.
To prepare their BTRs, countries build national climate transparency systems. These systems provide countries with the means to develop more accurate data on sectoral emissions. They develop greater understanding of their vulnerability to climate change. They develop a more refined understanding of efforts to implement their national climate plans or Nationally Determined Contributions and identify urgent needs for finance, technology and capacity-building.
Such systems generally consist of data-enrichment; a strengthened data-sharing network; an IT platform; governmental cooperation structures; and scenario modelling. This is a powerful architecture; one that goes far beyond just reporting to the UNFCCC.
Through these systems, governments have the means to design, implement and track ambitious policies that send clear market signals and unlock investment. They also provide the foundation for national carbon markets by identifying key private sector emitters.
At the same time, transparent and reliable data can help reduce investment risk by giving public and private financiers greater confidence and clarity. This investment can stimulate economic growth and job creation, as well as scale-up deployment of renewable energy technologies.
Yet building effective national transparency systems does not happen overnight. For many developing countries, under-resourced institutions, fragmented data systems, and limited technical capacity remain major barriers. Sustained support is essential to help countries build comprehensive and durable transparency systems.
UNEP, as the worlds largest global support provider of climate transparency, is aware of the challenges. UNEP supports over 80 developing countries, including many Small Island Developing States and Least-Developed Countries, to deliver on their BTRs and build national climate transparency systems.
Some countries are already making the bridge between transparency and finance. For instance, Panama, with the support of UNEP, is working on a registry intended to function as a Monitoring, Reporting and Verification system for climate finance, supporting donor accountability and aligning financial flows with national targets.
But we must do more to ensure that every county has the opportunity to fully harness the potential of climate transparency.
As you know, UNEP leads the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-financed global climate transparency support platform. With GEF funds, UNEP, the UN Development Programme and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will soon launch a new phase of this platform.
We will further explore how countries can use transparency systems and data to underpin their national carbon trading systems. How they can use them to derisk investment through long-term policy certainty and vulnerability modelling. How they can use them to monitor climate finance flows and align them with development objectives. How they can use them to facilitate investment in integrated, systems-based solutions linking climate, nature, pollution and development.
We at UNEP look forward to continuing to support developing countries, in collaboration with the GEF and other partners. Because climate data is far more than a reporting requirement it is the backbone of low-emission and climate-resilient development.
When countries can compile, manage, and report reliable climate data, they are better equipped to attract investment, strengthen policymaking, and seize the opportunities of the global transition to net-zero economies. Stronger economic growth, more jobs, better health outcomes, and more affordable and secure energy for their citizens.
Climate transparency benefits every nation. That is why we must work together to ensure that all countries have the support they need to build the systems that make ambitious climate action possible.
