How do you measure a country's greenhouse gas emissions? Many countries that announced their first climate action contributions prior to Paris are currently looking for an answer to this question. Developing countries especially have yet to set up many of the necessary institutions. Through the new MRV trust fund, the Federal Environment Ministry will support up to 20 countries in developing institutions for reporting and verifying national climate action and adaptation strategies.
In an initial phase the Federal Environment Ministry will make around seven million US dollars available from the International Climate Initiative. The British Children's Investment Fund will contribute another three million US dollars. The partner countries will help shape the initiative so that they will get what they need the most. Partner countries include Costa Rica, Ghana and Viet Nam.
Examples of the MRV trust fund's target group are environmental authorities, universities or statistical offices that wish to build competence in the area of measuring climate gases. The first step is reporting on emissions from the energy sector, transport, industry and agriculture. The aim is to measure greenhouse gas emissions and assess the impact of political measures on the climate. The fund is being managed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Copenhagen. It is open to other donors from the private sector and governments.
MRV stands for monitoring, reporting and verification. It describes the compiling of data on greenhouse gas emissions, the processing of this information in reports and inventories and its verification in an international process. MRV is a fundamental topic in climate negotiations. Only a robust transparent system will be able to create trust between countries that climate action pledges are not just made on paper but will actually be implemented.
For the time being, the fund will support 20 selected developing countries. Within this context, MRV standards will be further developed methodically. Another focus is on the training of decision makers and scientists. They will learn to measure national greenhouse gas emissions, monitor emissions and publish results in a transparent manner. This will ensure sustainable implementation. The secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are closely involved in the fund.