The Paris Agreement’s provisions on mitigation-related information and accounting are intended to promote transparency and environmental integrity, and play a central role in the regime’s architecture. They contain two basic elements: first, general obligations on parties, and second, authorizations to the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMA) to adopt more detailed rules and guidance.

In elaborating additional rules on how parties provide information on and account for their mitigation efforts, an important question is the potential linkages between the various CMA decisions authorized by the Paris Agreement. To the extent the issues addressed in different decisions are inter-related, then arguably they should be developed in a coordinated manner, to avoid inconsistencies and gaps.

This background paper reviews the decisions contemplated by the Paris Agreement on information and accounting by parties relating to mitigation; explores their inter-relationships and the rationales for linkage; and presents different options regarding coordination of the CMA decisions.