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By Mia Hunt on 31/01/2025 | Updated on 31/01/2025
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Ninety nations have formally reported progress towards meeting their Paris Agreement commitments, in what the UN called a “critical effort… [towards] ensuring transparency in global climate action”.
The cornerstone of the Paris Agreement – a legally-binding international treaty on climate change that was adopted in 2015 and signed the following year – is a bid to keep global temperatures to within 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. To date, 198 countries have signed the treaty.
Paris Agreement parties were asked to submit their first Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) by the end of last year.
“Transparent reporting is a vital enabling tool for all governments, providing crucial data to inform decision-making, design stronger climate policies over time and achieve broader development goals,” the UN noted.
Read more: World breaches 1.5C warming limit as climate deadline looms for governments
The UN gave special recognition to 57 developing countries – including what are referred to as ‘least developed countries’ and ‘small island developing states’ – that have submitted their transparency reports. “This important effort by the nations that are most vulnerable to climate impacts reflects their commitment to ensuring that the response to the climate crisis is guided by robust, evidence-based insights,” it said.
The reports will undergo review by independent technical experts tasked with undertaking a “thorough assessment” of each report, identifying progress towards Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets and capacity-building needs, and supporting nations to improve future reporting. NDCs are commitments Paris Agreement signees have made to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Reports from Andorra and Panama are the first to be reviewed.
Sharing successes and challenges
Following review, the UN said parties would be encouraged to “share experiences, successes, challenges and insights” in implementing the agreement and “driving global cooperation to deliver climate action”.
It added that “lessons learned from these processes will enhance countries’ long-term capacity to collect and analyse data, inform policy decisions, and implement effective climate action”, and added that reviews may enable countries to attract climate finance.
Read more: Dutch citizens’ climate assembly holds first meeting to shape advice for government
At COP29 – held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024 – UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell said transparency is crucial “not only because it highlights progress in climate action but because it spurs more action: enabling data-driven responses that build resilience and protect vulnerable populations by identifying risks and vulnerabilities, and leading to better resource allocation.
“Every submission, every lesson learned, brings us closer to the goals of the Paris Agreement,” he said.
UN Climate Change has urged countries that have not yet submitted complete BTRs “to do so without delay”.
Switzerland commits to new climate targets following court ruling
In related news, on 29 January Switzerland approved new climate targets after the European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that the country was not doing enough to tackle climate change.
The country’s new target is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65% compared to 1990 levels by 2035, and by 59% on average between 2031 and 2035.
It had previously committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% of 1990 levels by 2030.
The Swiss cabinet said it had adopted an amendment to its long-term climate strategy and would submit its new plans to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by 10 February.
In the 2024 court case, a group of Swiss women – most of them in their 70s – argued that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in their favour. It said Switzerland had “failed to comply with its duties under the Convention concerning climate change” and that it violated the right to respect for private and family life.
It also found that there had been “critical gaps” in the country’s policies to tackle climate change including failing to quantify reductions in greenhouse gases.
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