The Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework: state practices and compliance challenges

Since the promulgation of the UNFCCC, transparency of climate governance has been considered a cornerstone legal principle to enable mutual trust and cooperation, track the climate efforts of parties and their progress towards fulfilling their commitments, and achieve a shared understanding of the collective effort in combating climate change. Building on the previous transparency arrangements under the UNFCCC, on measuring, reporting, and verifying (MRV) the climate actions of Annex I countries, the Enhanced Transparency Framework adopted as part of the Paris Agreement and the subsequent modalities, procedures, and guidelines (MPGs) approved under the Paris Rulebook place more streamlined and stringent requirements on all parties. This chapter examines state practices through the lens of a large developing country, China, to understand the progress of developing a national MRV system in pursuit of complying with the obligations under the ETF. The chapter highlights the challenges that developing-country parties can be expected to face when implementing the MPGs.