Climate Change Cook Islands staff participated in a weeklong Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency – Global Support Programme (CBIT-GSP) training workshop at the New Hope Church last week.

This workshop was part of their preparation to align with the transparency requirements of the Paris Agreement.

According to Climate Change Cook Islands, the training workshop brought together stakeholders from government agencies and private sector with the intention of raising awareness, and working together and contributing to the Cook Islands reports to the United Nations (UN).

The training was conducted by Sudhir Shama and Noim Uddim from United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Mihwa Wi from Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).

Wayne King, director of Climate Change Cook Islands, reiterated “this is a country effort and not restricted to the climate change office”.

King said that under the Paris Agreement, the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) calls for the mainstreaming of the framework into government systems for the preparation of the Cook Islands national reports to the UN.

At the workshop, participants focused on the Biennial Transparency Report (BTR). Climate Change Cook Islands stated that under the Paris Agreement, countries are expected to submit a BTR.

“In the case of the Cook Islands as a SIDs (Small Island Developing States) we have flexibility on some elements of the BTR. However, since this is the first time for the Cook Islands to submit a BTR, the workshop is intended to introduce the process to government agencies and the private sector who may contribute to the process,” King said last week.

The training focused on the sectors the Cook Islands reports in its national communication to the UNFCCC such as the energy, agriculture and waste sectors, particularly sub-sectors of electricity and land transport.

The training also introduced participants to the integration of the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) requirements in preparing national greenhouse gas reporting.

The CBIT-GSP is a five-year global climate transparency project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by UNEP through the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC).