The Government of Trinidad and Tobago, through the Ministry of Planning and Development, has secured funding through the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) to strengthen Trinidad and Tobago’s transparency system to meet the requirements of the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement. US $1.1 Million is the value of grant funding and technical support for the project.
This transparency project is being executed by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and will be implemented over the next three years.
As a ratified signatory to the Paris Agreement, Trinidad and Tobago is obligated to report regularly on its greenhouse gas emissions and on the progress in the implementation and achievement of the mitigation measures in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which are the nation’s plans to reduce the effects of climate change.
Article 13 of the Paris Agreement, establishes the enhanced transparency framework, which obliges countries to report on climate action and support received using a common framework. The country is committed to complying with the modalities, procedures and guidelines for operationalization of the ETF, as agreed to at the Katowice Climate Conference (COP 24) and finalised more recently at COP 26 in Glasgow.
Planning and Development Minister Camille Robison-Regis, who also has responsibility for the environment, emphasises the importance of this transparency project because it allows for tracking and analysis of investments made in Trinidad and Tobago’s climate action measures. It also provides avenues to hold the Government accountable to our climate commitments while also ensuring that a net-zero future is possible based on our actions. This demonstrates government’s willingness to take action in an open manner, which accommodates citizen involvement through information sharing and providing opportunities for comment.
An Inception Workshop, hosted by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), brought together key stakeholders from UNEP, various ministries, statutory bodies, agencies, private sector, civil society organisations, non-governmental organizations and academia, to apprise them of the project objectives, activities and deliverables. The project will expand the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) system currently being hosted and managed by the EMA to incorporate the ETF. The MRV system tracks the progress of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in T&T and we were also one of the first in the English speaking Caribbean to integrate this system into our climate change goals.
Mr. Hayden Romano, Managing Director of the EMA, expressed his honour to be a pivotal player in this project as the Executing Agency and Mr. Kishan Kumarsingh, Head, Multilateral Environmental Agreement Unit of the Ministry of Planning and Development, and National Project Director for the project, reiterated that the country is now in a position to digest all the guidance recently adopted at COP 26, and incorporate these guidelines into the ETF to allow the country to report transparently as required under the Paris Agreement. He noted that the outcomes of the project result in a strengthened transparency and reporting mechanism, which is expected to be incorporated into the legal framework.
Additionally, Ms. Jacqueline Alvarez, UNEP Regional Director in Latin America and the Caribbean, congratulated the country on being a leader in this area, being the first English-speaking Caribbean country to undertake a GEF CBIT project. She noted that her organization, with the financial support of the GEF will lend all the support needed and seek to share lessons learned from other similar projects to ensure successful implementation.