Baku high-level dialogue launches global climate transparency initiatives ahead of COP29

Picture caption: Zulfiya Suleimenova (left), Advisor to the President of Kazakhstan and Special Representative for International Environmental Cooperation, who has been appointed by the incoming COP President (third from left) as one of the ‘High Level Transparency Pair’, speaks during the opening of the Baku High-Level Dialogue on Climate Transparency.                          Credit: Government of Azerbaijan

The incoming COP29 Presidency, with UN Climate Change, hosted a High-Level Dialogue in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday 4 September 2024 launching several important initiatives to bolster global climate transparency ahead of COP29.

Senior officials from over 120 countries participated, along with senior leaders from UN organizations and other international partners providing support to strengthen transparency.

As countries prepare to submit their national progress reports under the Paris Agreement, the incoming COP Presidency, alongside UN Climate Change and other UN organizations, is providing a range of practical supports to developing countries needing additional assistance to meet these commitments.

The reports, known as Biennial Transparency Reports or BTRs, will enable more ambitious climate action, by helping countries to assess progress, design more effective policies over time, and attract the financing needed. BTRs are due by 31 December 2024.

“BTRs will play a crucial role in tracking progress and identifying areas where more action and investment are needed. This will help to unlock and guide climate finance,” said Mukhtar Babayev, COP President Designate and Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan.

Babayev added: “As we ask all Parties to enhance their ambition in the next generation of climate plans, transparency will be critical. By openly reporting our words and actions, our progress and our challenges, we can share with the world our commitment to achieving our climate goals.”

To support developing countries that face capacity challenges in preparing their transparency reports, the incoming Presidency announced the launch of the Baku Global Climate Transparency Platform (BTP), which will bring together countries and stakeholders to provide support for BTR preparation and submission.

“I invite all countries to take part in the Platform to strengthen our collective efforts. By using the support available – including this new platform – and submitting transparency reports without delay, all countries can harness transparency to drive the ambitious climate action our world so desperately needs,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell.

The BTP will initially focus on the timely submission of BTRs this year, then transition to support ongoing work on transparency during COP29 and beyond.

To date, the BTP has supported a series of workshops to build confidence and reporting capacity, and will now step up efforts focused on preparing countries region by region, with upcoming workshops planned in Africa, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The COP29 incoming Presidency also announced that Azerbaijan will be working to submit its own BTR before the December deadline. This pledge, which responds to an earlier call for BTRs to be submitted ahead of COP29, was echoed by other countries, including Brazil, Georgia, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye, United States and Uzbekistan, with others signaling strong intent to submit early as well.

To reinforce the crucial importance of transparency ahead of COP29, the incoming COP President appointed a ‘High Level Transparency Pair’: Zulfiya Suleimenova, Advisor to the President of Kazakhstan and Special Representative for International Environmental Cooperation, and Francesco Corvaro, Italy’s Special Envoy for Climate Change.

Following the opening, a number of thematic sessions looked at how to lay the groundwork for effective climate transparency reporting. Participants took part in discussions led by partners of the #Together4Transparency initiative, including the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, the UN Development Programme, the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency – Global Support Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency and the Partnership on Transparency in the Paris Agreement.

Key topics included building national capacity for BTRs, strengthening transparency systems for informed policy and climate finance decisions, the role of transparency in driving ambitious climate action, and the importance of review processes to foster trust and confidence in reported information.

Momentum toward COP29 and the timely submission of BTRs is set to continue. Highlighting the central role of transparency in the COP29 Presidency’s efforts to boost ambition and enable action, the Chief Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev announced the High-Level Global Transparency Dialogue scheduled for 25 September on the side-lines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.