The challenges of tracking action on climate
Ever since the Paris Agreement was reached at COP21 in 2015 – when world leaders committed to pursue efforts to limit a global temperature increase to 1.5 degC – public interest in the UN’s yearly climate meeting has grown. While countries come together to discuss progress, the meetings have increasingly become an opportunity for non-state actors (NSAs) to make public commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it is not easy to find out what impact these activities are having.
Increasingly the annual meetings of the climate Conference of Parties (COP) make headline news as public interest in climate change grows. The meetings, which bring together the countries that are working with the UN to tackle climate change, are also being used more often by non-state actors, such as corporate or NGO groups, as a platform to showcase their own actions and campaigns. But what impact are these actions having and are the commitments made transparent?
The UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) tracks progress on national targets in various ways, including through a Global Stocktake report, which was first published at COP28 last year. This assesses all climate action taken worldwide. It highlights the need for credible, accountable, and transparent actions by non-state actors to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts.
According to the World Resources Institute momentum for climate action among non-state actors is increasing and climate action pledged by these groups has doubled since 2017. Climate actions are broad, ranging from renewable power generation and vehicle electrification to net-zero targets, to science-based targets (SBTs) and adaptation measures.
Tracking progress of non-state actors
Unlike state-actors, there is no universal framework to standardise reporting of action taken for NSAs. The activities of these groups play an important role in enhancing national actions, they also provide alliances and action across states, but they are difficult to track because they are often heterogeneous and dispersed across multiple platforms and domains.
There are several initiatives in place to report non-state actor efforts:
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Announced at COP26 in November 2021, the UNFCCC’s Global Climate Action Portal compiles information for over 30,000 NSAs engaging in climate action and over 150 international cooperative initiatives. This is currently the most comprehensive overview of the wide engagement in climate action pledges and initiatives available. It allows anyone to view what actors are doing, such as setting a climate action commitment, participating in cooperative initiatives, adopting climate action plans, or undertaking specific mitigation, adaptation or finance actions. While this contributes towards transparency with publicly-available information on thousands of initiatives, Katia Simeonova, independent researcher and former manager in UNFCCC’s transparency division told Ocki that the information in the database “is rather heterogeneous and not subject to formal process of verification at the UN level”.
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The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency’s (Icat) provides information on the methods and tools available to support evidence-based policymaking. Icat integrates guidance, capacity-building and knowledge-sharing to engage countries through a common framework, strengthening the transparency and effectiveness of climate policies and actions. The initiative also develops and tests methods for integrating non-state actors’ climate actions into national climate policy evaluation.
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Other cooperative international initiatives for NSAs include Race to Zero and the Science Based Targets initiatives (SBTi). Race to Zero is the world’s largest coalition of non-state actors, with over 13,000 members that must meet robust science-aligned criteria, taking immediate action to halve global emissions by 2030. SBTi defines and promotes best practice in science-based target setting for organisation, offering a range of target-setting resources and guidance.
Issues with NSA transparency
The lack of transparency is an issue for non-state actors because it appears they do not have a good track record of delivering. The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor reported in 2022 that the 2030 climate strategies of 25 major global companies were inadequate and that only three had 2050 net zero commitments in place.
A 2020 scientific review by Prof Thomas Hale of the University of Oxford of over 40 studies tracking progress of NSA pledges found that almost all the studies focused on the potential impacts of pledges if fully implemented, and much less on assessing the progress and the actual results achieved.
Public interest in COPs
While there have been nearly three decades of COPs, public interest in climate change and COPs has grown significantly since the first COP in 1995. Data from Google Trends on the number of Google searches for each of the last 10 COPs shows that interest is significantly more now than it was 5-10 years ago – with the exception of 2015, possibly due to the groundbreaking Paris Agreement in that year.
Ocki’s experienceOcki contacted 14 stakeholders to ask whether statements made at COPs accelerated progress within their industry. Only three groups responded; another two said they did not have the time or resources to respond; the remainder failed to respond.
Although some stakeholders were not directly involved in the COP statements, many were large organisations in industries that recent COP statements have focused on.
The stakeholders that responded to Ocki’s questions reported that generally the COP statements and initiatives announced that were relevant to their field had accelerated progress.
Ocki also contacted the UNFCCC press office with questions on transparency relating to the progress of NSA initiatives and projects announced at COPs, and if there are any resources to better engage the public? While it was unable to accommodate our request due to its intense schedule of current commitments, it did refer to a forward-looking presentation given by UN climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell in Baku, in February. Referring to finance and transparency, Mr Stiell said: “[They are] essential for building trust, delivering impact and therefore forging more ambitious commitments.” |
Strengthening transparency
The UN Environment Programme (Unep) did publish a report last October, with support from the Danish think tank Concito, which suggests how to improve the connection between actions by non-state actors and national processes. The report, Strengthening transparency of non-state actors: How national experiences and new digital technologies can strengthen the transparency efforts of non-state actors, made a number of recommendations for the UN process, including:
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ensure there is a good understanding among the states and NSAs of the benefits from more harmonised and integrated approaches;
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specific guidance should be provided for national governments to include and reference NSA actions in official communications and reports;
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establish central clearinghouses for country-level and NSA actions, utilising digital tools to facilitate interoperability between existing and future datasets;
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international institutions like the UNFCCC secretariat or UNEP could play a more active facilitation role in creating dialogues between NSAs and Parties to enhance mutual understanding of actual and planned efforts; and
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non-state actors, especially in developing countries, should be supported to improve data collection and report digitally.
To improve transparency further, the report recommends organisations use a scientifically sound foundation, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) inventory guidelines, which allow actors to improve over time.
In addition, the UN High-Level Expert Group on the Net Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities also said that non-state actors must move towards:
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annual disclosures for greenhouse gas data, net zero targets and the plans for, and progress towards, meeting those targets;
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report in a standardised, open format and via public platforms that feed into the UNFCCC Global Climate Action Portal;
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have their reported emissions reductions verified by independent third parties; and
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disclosures ought to be accurate and reliable. Large businesses should seek independent evaluation.
Transparency for state actorsTo provide transparency on the pledges and statements made for state actors, the new Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) has been put in place to ensure standardisation of reporting and uphold accountability. The ETF builds on frameworks already in place and requires all countries under Paris Agreement to submit a biennial transparency report and national inventory report by 31 December this year. This framework guides countries on how to report their greenhouse gas emissions, progress toward their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) plans (which cover their emissions reductions and climate impact adaptations), the support provided and mobilised, and support needed and received. The ETF also includes processes for technical experts to review reported information and a multilateral peer review where countries can ask questions of one another.
Although transparency for state actors has improved, there is still some way to go. For the ETF specifically issues have been raised regarding the review process, including the allocation of funds and building up a sufficient pool of qualified reviewers. |
The official summary of COP28, stressed the importance for implementation and accountability for all actors engaging in climate action. It noted that progress made under pledges, declarations, commitments, and initiatives should be reported and expanded towards their goals, and that accountability is integral to all actors and all types of global climate action. The summary recognised that existing initiatives had reported their achievements and challenges, and those launched at COP 28 had committed to reconvene at future COPs to discuss their progress. However, it is clear that there is some way to go before progress on commitments made by non-state actors are reported in a standard and verified way that is accessible to an interested public.
Further informationWRI article: non-state climate action transparency benefits
UNFCCC Global Stocktake reports
Unep Report: Strengthening transparency of non-state actors: How national experiences and new digital technologies can strengthen the transparency efforts of non-state actors
UNFCCC Enhanced Transparency Framework
UNFCCC Global Climate Action Portal
Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor 2023
Hale et al., review of NSA progress studies
UN report: Integrity matters: Net zero commitments by businesses, financial institutions, cities and regions
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