The Paris Agreement introduces the obligation of accountability and accounting of attainments towards mitigation goals in all countries and establishes the Enhanced Transparency Framework. Within this dynamic context, the pioneering project “Accounting Rules” with Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia draws up proposals to be applied at the national level.

The Paris Agreement demands national contributions from all parties towards the goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which are to limit global warming and increase resilience. Likewise, the agreement introduces the obligation of accountability or accounting of the NDCs, thereby allowing the international community to monitor achievements of national contributions. The Agreement also strengthens one of the Convention’s initial principles, transparency, by converting it into the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF).

Recommendations for accounting and ETF instruments will be presented at COP24

The year 2018 marks an important milestone for both aspects. Until the end of 2018, the Special Working Group installed by the Conference of the Parties (COP) must present recommendations for implementation measures (modalities, procedures and guidelines) for accounting and ETF. The Accounting Rules project launches two publications that contribute to these discussions.

New publications support mitigation goals

A document was developed that provides criteria to support the use of a common language describing the three related terms of transparency, accounting and Monitoring-Report-Verification (MRV). Another publication covers the seven principles of accounting with the aim of discussing its possible application in the context of the NDC in the countries.

Until the end of May 2018, an NDC accounting guide will be published together with an electronic tool, digitalizing the information. The tool will facilitate the application of the guide within national public institutions. These products are expected to support the monitoring of achievements of mitigation goals expressed in the NDC and, therefore, also the global balance that is necessary to adjust global efforts in the fight against global warming.

This IKI project is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH commissioned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) of Germany in conjunction with the MADS (Colombia), the Directorate of Change Climate of MINAE (Costa Rica) and INECC (Mexico).

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