Designing the rules of the Paris Agreement: creating a workable framework beyond transparency

The report titled underscores the importance of ensuring that the communication system of national reports is designed in such a way that each country can meet and strengthen its targets. It notes that the current transparency framework is insufficient, and that enhancing the mitigation targets of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) will not guarantee changes unless they are followed by implementation of national domestic measures. Under the Paris Agreement, NDCs and policies and measures are voluntary. However, their formulation and communication (every five years), and reporting and review of progress (every two years) are mandatory. Therefore, the report emphasizes, the mandatory reporting and review system for NDCs under the Paris Agreement must be effective. The report analyzes several review schemes apart from that which currently exists under the UNFCCC. It looks, in particular, at Japan’s industrial sectors, which provide examples of voluntary-based schemes that have improved the validity of actions. These examples are the Keidanren’s Voluntary Action Plan on the Environment (which ended in 2012), and the Energy Management System under the Energy Conservation Law.