Shifting from pledges to action: COP29’s role in climate accountability 

As we hurtle towards another Conference of the Parties (COP), this year in Azerbaijan, it is only natural to reflect on the progress the global climate community has made since meeting at COP28 in Dubai last year. Whilst recent reports show significant growth in clean energy investments, global emissions continue to rise.  

Countries are currently updating their national climate targets, with the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) due 9-12 months ahead of COP30. Whilst the Global Stocktake clearly showed that further ambition is needed to reach global decarbonisation, that ambition must also be turned into action. Recent COPs have seen a proliferation of climate initiatives such as the Global Methane Pledge and the Carbon Management Challenge, but for these initiatives to truly impact global emissions, countries must be held accountable to achieve them.   

At recent COPs, we’ve repeatedly heard calls to raise ambition and translate it into action. This year’s COP, however, will be the true test of whether those ambitions have led to tangible results. The first Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), due December 31, 2024, will require countries to report on their progress towards implementing their NDCs. COP29 will mark the first true test of the Paris Agreement’s transparency and accountability process, making it critical to spotlight the BTR process. 

What are Biennial Transparency Reports? 

The Biennial Transparency Reports form a key part of the Paris Agreement’s five-year ambition cycle, in which Parties outline their NDCs and track their progress towards meeting them. This in turn feeds into the Global Stocktake, which assesses collective progress and helps to inform future updates to NDCs. Designed to provide a clear picture of global climate action, BTRs help measure progress towards the goals of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. 

Parties to the Paris Agreement (except Small Islands Developing States and Least Developed Countries – who can submit at their discretion) must submit BTRs every two years, beginning in 2024. These reports replace the Biennial Reports (BRs) of the UNFCCC, which only Annex 1 Parties submit every two years, and the Biennial Update Reports (BURs), which non-Annex 1 Parties submit every two years from 2014.¹  

The content of BTRs is guided by Decision 18/CMA.1, which outlines the rules for reporting and dictates that BTRs should include an inventory of Parties’ greenhouse gas emissions, progress towards implementing and achieving their NDCs, and information on climate change impacts and adaptation.² Developed countries are also required to provide information on levels of financial support provided, whilst developing countries are asked to provide information on financial, technology transfer and capacity building support needed and received.³  

When tracking progress towards their NDCs, Parties must include information on their NDC target, the implementation timeframe, and indicators they will use to monitor progress. Parties must outline the sectoral policies and measures they are implementing to meet their NDC targets. As part of this, they should also incorporate initiatives and pledges they have signed up to. 

Once submitted, BTRs will be subject to a Technical Expert Review (TER), where nominated experts review key elements to ensure consistency with reporting requirements.⁴ The Review considers a Party’s implementation of its NDC and the support it has provided while highlighting areas for improvement. However, the TER process does not assess the adequacy of the Party’s progress or the effectiveness of their targets. Following the TER, a facilitative multilateral consideration of progress (FMCP) takes place, bringing together different Parties to facilitate an open dialogue on shared experiences, tackling common challenges, and learning from each other’s best practices.⁵ 

A test of global climate progress 

Currently, only three Parties have submitted their BTRs: Andorra, Guyana and Panama.⁶ Provided all Parties meet their commitments, the BTRs can provide a valuable overview of global emissions and whether countries are truly on track to meet their targets. This year will be the first where all Parties follow the same guidelines for reporting, offering a real test of capacity for many developing nations.  

The BTRs also allow countries to report how they are implementing the sectoral initiatives and pledges that have dominated COPs in recent years. While public, and sometimes, symbolic pledges from governments and industry can set the stage for action, COP29 must emphasize turning these into detailed, actionable plans. Nations need clear actions, financial strategies, and milestones to ensure the real-world deployment of new technologies and transformations of key sectors. To meet the Paris Agreement’s goals, countries must set even more ambitious NDCs—but ambition without action is hollow. While 80% of current NDCs include economy-wide targets, only 44%⁷ include targets for non-carbon greenhouse gases. The upcoming NDC updates offer a critical opportunity for countries to outline detailed, sector specific plans to enable them to achieve their targets. 

Currently, fully implementing the unconditional NDCs under the Paris Agreement would lead to a temperature rise of 2.9°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century.⁸ Even if all conditional NDCs are fully implemented, the increase would only be reduced to 2.5°C—still far from the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement. 

A key step toward enhancing accountability and transparency at future COPs would be to require countries to disclose their emissions as a condition for hosting. Azerbaijan, the host of COP29, has not reported its emissions in six years, though it plans to submit its BTR by the December deadline, and recently launched the Baku Global Climate Transparency Platform, designed to support developing countries to prepare their BTRs. Hosting a COP should require showing a genuine commitment to climate action, including regular, transparent reporting. 

With COP29 on the horizon, it’s time for nations to shift from pledges to action. The BTR process will provide the first true litmus test of how prepared countries are to turn their climate commitments into measurable progress.