UN Climate Change News, 11 May 2021 - A successful professional training programme on greenhouse gas inventories for national experts from developing countries has been extended for another 5 years. The programme, called UNFCCC-GIR-CASTT, is a concrete example of capacity building in developing countries in support of efforts to fulfil their commitments with regard to reporting requirements under the transparency arrangements of the Paris Agreement.
First offered in collaboration by the Republic of Korea Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Centre (GIR) and UN Climate Change 2017, some 112 trainees representing 70 developing countries have completed the training to date.
Acknowledging the many positive impacts of the training programme on the technical capacity of developing countries to prepare their national GHG inventories, the collaboration was extended for another 5 years during an online signing ceremony between Heung-Won Seo, President of (GIR) and Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"I see this collaboration as a concrete role model where partners can come together to provide impactful support to developing countries," said Ms. Espinosa.
This partnership is a unique opportunity to equip national experts from developing countries to successfully implement both the Climate Change Convention as well as the Paris Agreement.
"I hope the extension of this MoU will be a step further in boosting our regional cooperation and enhance the development of capacities in developing countries," said Mr. Seo.
This year's training is scheduled between 2 August to 8 October 2021, in an online setting. While virtual courses cannot fully replace in-person training, the continuing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted UN Climate Change and GIR to offer the 2021 training programme as an online course.
The partnership itself is part of a broader training programme, called UNFCCC-CASTT, which is being promoted and championed by UN Climate Change.
Last year, an overall programme review was conducted through surveys, and results showed that the level of satisfaction with the programme among the respondents is over 90%. In addition, almost all respondents indicated that the training programme broadened their knowledge and skills in different technical areas of climate reporting.
