New York City hosted the High-Level Forum on Global Climate Transparency last week, coinciding with the UN General Assembly. The event aimed to raise global awareness and support for the timely submission of Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) by year’s end, while also announcing the COP29 Transparency Declaration, underscoring transparency’s crucial role in tracking climate progress.
Organised by the incoming COP29 Presidency in collaboration with UN Climate Change and other international partners, the forum built on previous events to encourage all Parties to the Paris Agreement to submit BTRs before the 31 December 2024 deadline.
Transparent reporting is a vital enabling tool for all governments – it provides crucial data to help make informed decisions, design stronger climate policies, attract climate finance and achieve broader development goals.
Regular climate reports, offering a comprehensive overview of each country’s climate actions, support, and progress toward climate commitments, will feed into a more robust global assessment of whether Parties collectively are on track to hold global warming below 1.5C.
Speakers highlighted the significance of BTRs in fostering trust and data-driven decision-making. Representatives from reporting countries and organisations providing technical assistance emphasised how these reports can enable more effective climate policies by building a stronger evidence base and highlighting financing needs and opportunities.
However, the Forum also acknowledged the challenges some countries face in preparing their BTRs on time. A lack of institutional capacity, data management challenges, and unfamiliarity with the new reporting methodologies and tools were cited as key obstacles.
In response, the incoming COP29 Presidency, UN Climate Change, UNDP and other partners highlighted available support, training and capacity-building initiatives. This includes the newly launched Baku Global Climate Transparency Platform (BTP), designed to streamline the various support channels.
COP29 President Designate, Mukhtar Babayev, stressed the importance of this year’s reporting cycle: “Parties will submit their first-ever BTRs, which will enable us to track progress, build trust and implement our commitments. They will also enable us to assess gaps and identify financial needs. We are expecting more than 100 countries to submit their BTRs before the end of this year, which marks strong progress.”
Babayev added: “We know that some countries are struggling to meet this deadline, so we are driving momentum forward – with workshops, training, and support, all coordinated under the BTP. We urge all countries to utilise and support this effort, and we aim to capture this commitment in a new Declaration on Transparency at COP29.”
Francesco Corvaro of Italy, one of the newly appointed High-Level Transparency Pair for COP29, echoed this message of solidarity: “You are not alone – we are here to support you. We are here to help speed up the work so that you can present your BTR as soon as possible.”
Parties attending the forum reiterated the importance of transparency in climate action, sharing their own efforts and challenges in preparing BTRs. They welcomed both the BTP and the forthcoming Transparency Declaration.
Looking ahead, countries also noted the upcoming technical expert review process, which will follow BTR submission, as well as the synthesis reports that will provide a global overview of climate progress. BTRs will serve as vital tools for countries to strengthen their next round of national climate plans (nationally determined contributions or NDCs) in early 2025.
Closing the event, UN Climate Change Senior Director, Daniele Violetti, encouraged all countries to view the preparation and submission of BTRs not just as a reporting requirement, but as a strategic opportunity to accelerate climate action: “By embracing transparency, we can collectively drive the ambitious climate action needed to safeguard our planet and its people.”
