mrv of Emissions and Mitigation Action: the Paris Agreement and Financial Support for Transparency-Related Capacity Building in Developing Countries

Abstract

This article examines the role of the Paris Agreement in enabling developed-country financial contributions aimed at building transparency-related capacity in developing countries. It first analyses the legal means and institutional arrangements utilized by the Agreement to support developing countries in building transparency-related capacity. It then argues that even though the Agreement adopts certain legal and institutional means to foster transparency-related capacity building in developing countries through financial support, it does so in a way that risks undermining the meaningful and accountable use of climate finance, while softening the bindingness of the Agreement’s provisions. The lack of accountability obligations on climate finance for developing countries, the principle of flexibility, and the challenges intrinsic to climate finance, combine to weaken the climate-finance obligation, while calling into question the effectiveness of the Agreement.