UN Climate Change News, 13 June 2026 - As reviews of countries' climate transparency reports enter their third year under the Paris Agreement's Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), lead reviewers of Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) met in Bonn last month for their third annual meeting. It brought together 87 experts from developed and developing countries, both online and in person, to strengthen the consistency and effectiveness of the review process.
Building on experience gained since the first reviews of BTRs in 2024, lead reviewers reflected on progress made and agreed on guidance for eight substantive review issues that emerged during the 2025 and 2026 review cycles.
Discussions highlighted the complexity of reviewing BTRs from Parties with diverse national circumstances, national climate plan (NDC) structures, reporting approaches and levels of technical capacity. The meeting helped to consolidate and deepen the current technical understanding of these issues among reviewers.
A major focus was the review of information on progress towards NDCs. Given the wide range of approaches used by Parties, this area has generated differing review practices. Lead reviewers agreed on guidance covering issues such as the application of flexibility provisions, the treatment of conditional targets, and the respective roles of indicators and projections in assessing NDC progress, among others.
Guidance was also agreed in other review areas, including the treatment of missing tabular information and the review of grant-equivalent values reported for financial support provided.
Recognizing that reviews also support capacity-building efforts, lead reviewers agreed on structured guidance for identifying and prioritizing capacity-building needs. This will help ensure that review outcomes provide meaningful information on the support developing countries need to strengthen their transparency systems over time.
The meeting also enhanced understanding of how review findings and recommendations may inform the work of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee (PAICC), underscoring the contribution of reviews to the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.
As the number of BTR reviews grows, the expertise and dedication of lead reviewers will remain essential to ensuring that the ETF continues to provide a clear picture of progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement.
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