The MRV Hub

  • The MRV Hub is a regional institution designed to support Member Countries in their efforts to: improve MRV systems, build Paris Agreement reporting capabilities, and enhance their domestic evidence-based policymaking. A key design innovation of the MRV Hub is that it functions as a true learning and mentoring cooperative.
  • To achieve its mission, activities of the MRV Hub include multi-country working sessions, bilateral mentoring trips, training sessions, fellows and interns, tool and guidance development, and strengthening data management systems. The MRV Hub is flexibly designed to adapt to evolving country needs for climate transparency.
  • Under the Paris Agreement, countries are required to submit detailed data and supporting information every two years as a Biennial Transparency Report (BTR). To achieve this, countries need comprehensive and functioning climate measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems.
  • MRV system development is an additional challenge for small Caribbean nations because systems for climate change transparency are prone to economies of scale. The MRV Hub works to regionally achieve this economy of scale through cooperation.
Member Countries
Steering Committee

What is climate change MRV?

Climate change measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) is a broad term for systems that support the collection, management, analysis, use, and assurance of climate change-related data. Together, this suite of activities, components, and infrastructure (see table below) comprises the “MRV system.”

In addition to streamlined national reporting to the UNFCCC, there are numerous domestic benefits to a functional MRV system. It enables evidence-based policymaking and implementation for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Improved transparency unlocks additional climate finance, especially results-based climate finance.

What are country transparency needs under the Paris Agreement?

 

The Paris Agreement uses the term “transparency” to refer to MRV systems and processes (decision 1/CP.21, p.98). These two terms can be used interchangeably.

Transparency is at the heart of the Paris Agreement. By sharing detailed information on progress made, countries accelerate higher ambition from one another, steering the world towards the collective aim of limiting global warming to 1.5 C over pre-industrial temperatures by 2100. Transparency provides an opportunity for Caribbean nations to continue the leadership they have demonstrated in the negotiations.

To achieve this, the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement involves greater detail and frequency of reporting. In the past, developing countries have struggled to report every 4 years; the ETF requires reporting every two years, providing at minimum a complete inventory of greenhouse gases and tracking key indicators for NDC progress. The ETF involves higher methodological standards than developing countries have faced previously. For most developing countries, this entails a shift from discrete project funding for a specific UNFCCC national communication or other submission, to developing nationally-embedded data monitoring and reporting programs.

Implementing Partners

 

The Caribbean Cooperative MRV Hub is physically housed in Grenada at St. George’s University. Implementing project partners include the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI), the UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centre, and the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF).