The quality assurance of the National Inventory Report (NIR) capacity building workshop was co-hosted by the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Fiji, and the Transparency Division of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat. The workshop was held from 4-8 March 2024 in Suva.

Fiji published its recent NIR in September 2023. The NIR under Biennial Update Report (BUR) is a reporting obligation under the UNFCCC. The NIR is a compilation of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the major components reported under the BUR to the international community.

The NIR will provide the basis for identifying, developing, and prioritising climate mitigation actions and targets at sectors that have high emission reduction potential and benefits to the broader sustainable development goals. It also provides an action plan by sector to improve activity data availability and quality and reduce the uncertainties for future inventory preparation.

Quality Assurance is a planned system of review procedures conducted by personnel not directly involved in the inventory compilation/development process. Reviews, preferably by independent third parties, are performed upon a completed inventory following the implementation of quality control procedures. Reviews verify that measurable objectives were met, ensure that the inventory represents the best possible estimates of emissions and removals given the current state of scientific knowledge and data availability, and support the effectiveness of the quality control programme.

The workshop examined the sectoral estimates and the current inventory management system, with the aim to build capacity of the GHG inventory team and establish the foundation for the improvement of future GHG inventories, especially in the context of the implementation of the Enhanced Transparency Framework and the preparation of Fiji’s first BTR. The quality assurance capacity building workshop was attended by Fiji government stakeholders and academia for enhancing the quality assurance of the future NIRs.