The Enhanced Transparency Framework—which provides guidelines for Parties on reporting their progress toward achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement—is due to become fully operational in 2024 in line with Article 13 of the Paris Agreement. Under the framework, all Parties shall submit their first biennial transparency report (BTR) by December 31, 2024, at the latest, except small island developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs), which may report at their discretion. Other developing country Parties must submit transparency reports but may exercise flexibility provisions on the data submitted.

The Enhanced Transparency Framework is crucial to the climate regime. BTRs will play a vital role in the five-year ambition cycle of the Paris Agreement, representing a shift toward implementation and providing Parties context as they develop their new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and eventually feed into the second global stocktake (GST).

Several barriers may create challenges as Parties finalize their BTRs, including due to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat not releasing key reporting tools until late 2024, and capacity issues as many developing country Parties prepare climate transparency reports for the first time.