The Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC) convened the annual Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting to review progress of Fiji’s Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) project. Representatives from relevant government ministries, agencies, and academic institutions were in attendance.

The CBIT project is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the Global Environment Facility (GEF) implementing agency, and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) as the co-executing agency.

The Permanent Secretary for Environment and Climate Change, Dr. Sivendra Michael, opened the meeting, emphasizing that Fiji, as a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is obligated to communicate information relevant to its implementation of the Paris Agreement; and the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Dr. Michael underscored the CBIT project’s critical role in supporting the enforcement and operationalization of the Climate Change Act 2021. He highlighted that while the Act outlines and defines clear organizational mandates for the national reporting process to the Paris Agreement, the CBIT project supports the quality and practical operationalization of this reporting by defining specific roles and responsibilities, mapping data and information flows, and evaluating existing processes and systems.

The main outcomes of the CBIT project are to strengthen and formalize Fiji’s institutional arrangements for regular and transparent reporting under the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement.

The Project also establishes an IT-based Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory preparation system to facilitate effective information coordination and collation between government agencies supporting Fiji’s overall capacity for the measurement, reporting, and verification of national greenhouse gas emissions. This system will enable Fiji to track and transparently report on progress to meet Fiji’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) and will directly help leverage efforts to access climate finance.

The annual CBIT project steering committee meeting is an important platform for also assessing the impact of past committee decisions, identifying gaps in implementation, and proposing solutions to ensure the success of ongoing and future project activities.