I am writing this blog post on my way to COP26 in Glasgow to attend my first climate conference. I have always been interested in climate protection, and this was one of the main reasons I specialized in international law. After having researched several issues concerning climate law, I am looking forward to getting insights into how these decisions are made in practice.

While attending COP26, I will support Germanwatch, which has been closely monitoring and analyzing climate conferences for many years. I am grateful for having the opportunity to work together with people who have a lot of expertise and experience in climate negotiations.

In my work for Germanwatch, I mainly focus on transparency mechanisms, including the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) and the Global Stocktake. The Paris Agreement is based on a bottom-up approach and allows every party to define its nationally determined commitments (NDCs). The two mechanisms have the potential to create considerable momentum towards more ambitious commitments because they can keep states accountable, make the commitments comparable, and illustrate whether the international community is on the right track towards the goals set in the Paris Agreement. While the ETF and the Global Stocktake were established under the Paris Agreement, many modalities were left open to be decided at a later COP.

The Global Stocktake will be undertaken every five years starting in 2023 in order to assess whether the aggregated commitments of all parties are sufficient to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The process was outlined in the decisions adopted at COP24 in Katowice. But some aspects such as the inclusion of non-state parties in the process are still debated. The ETF requires states to publish biannual reports that include inter alia information on their greenhouse gas emissions and their progress towards their NDCs. The parties made some progress at COP24 where they decided that there will be only one framework for both developed and developing countries, but the ETF will provide flexibility in certain cases to developing countries that currently do not have the capacities to fulfill the obligations. At COP26 the parties still need to make decisions on details such as Common Reporting Tables and Common Tabular Formats.

The remaining issues seem to be rather technical, but they have a huge impact on whether the transparency mechanisms built into the Paris Agreement can fulfill their purpose. For example, allowing narrative descriptions in the reports under the ETF enables states to hide shortcomings behind vague terms. If non-state actors can participate in all stages of the Global Stocktake, the expertise in the private sector can be used and additional pressure can be put on states.

Apart from my work for Germanwatch, I will also follow the negotiations on the key issues for implementing market-based mechanisms under Art.6 of the Paris Agreement. Another interesting aspect of this year’s COP will be the negotiations on how nature-based solutions can be included in the climate regime.

After the conference was canceled last year and after states have updated their NDCs for the first time, the expectations for COP26 are high and UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it “the world’s moment of truth.” I hope that, after all the grand words and promises made at the World Leaders Summit in the first days of COP26, the delegates are able to meet the expectations and agree on key aspects regarding Art.6 and the transparency mechanisms that would finally allow for an effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.