India and China are among the few large countries that have missed the December 31 deadline for submitting the first ‘biennial transparency report’ (BTR) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

Under the Paris Agreement of 2015, the parties to the agreement are required to submit the progress they have made in terms of climate action, in a standardized format. BTR include information on national inventory reports (NIR), progress towards NDCs (voluntary commitments for climate action), policies and measures, climate change impacts and adaptation, levels of financial, technology development and transfer and capacity-building support, capacity-building needs and areas of improvement.   

The BTRs are to be submitted to UNFCCC every two years; the deadline for the first was December 31. The BTR replaces the earlier ‘Biennial Update Reports’ and ‘Biennial Reports’ and is said to be a more robust and better standardized format of reporting. 

Submitting BTRs is a requirement under Article 13 of the Paris Agreement, which speaks of Enhanced Transparency Framework which is meant to make sure that all countries provide clear and accurate information about their climate actions. This is both for accountability and building trust. 

While most of the developed countries – USA, Europe, Japan and Australia – have submitted their BTRs in December, India, China, South and North Koreas, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Pakistan, Iraq, Israel, Egypt and Hungary have yet to do so, as do several small countries. Least Developed Countries and Small Island Nations are not bound by the December 31 deadline—they are expected to submit the report as soon as feasible. “Once submitted, the BTR will undergo a technical expert review process; a facilitative, multilateral consideration of progress will also be conducted for each Party,” says UNFCCC. The review has multiple aims, such as absorbing best practices for others to follow and identifying gaps for improvement.