From 2024, all countries will face more stringent reporting requirements on their climate action under the Paris Agreement’s enhanced transparency framework (ETF). For developing countries — and the least developed countries (LDCs) in particular — it is a big step up from existing arrangements.

This paper analyses over 20 years of LDC reports to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to understand their current capacity constraints and needs for greenhouse gas inventory reporting, which becomes mandatory under the ETF.

It provides recommendations to build in-country capacity, change reporting dynamics and help LDCs shift from a ‘fly-in, fly-out’ consultant model to a nationally-owned institutionalised process.