13 November 2012: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released a synthesis report on the parties’ submissions on the work programme and on the revision of the guidelines for the review of biennial reports (BR) from developed countries and national communications (NC), including national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories from Annex I Parties to the Convention (FCCC/SBSTA/2012/INF.11).

The report provides a synthesis based on six parties’ submissions, and will serve as an input for discussions at the 37th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 37). The report features sections on: background; overarching issues; structure of the revised review guidelines; issues in relation to the content of the revised review guidelines; and process and timeline for the revision of the review guidelines. Examples of the overall structure of the revised guidelines are included in an annex.

On the scope and nature of different types of review, some parties note that the NC and BR reviews differ from the GHG inventory review. While the GHG inventory review focuses on a technical assessment of the quantitative information on a party’s emissions and removals, the NC and BR reviews focus on the policy aspects of a party’s mitigation actions and progress in achieving its emission reduction targets and the provision of support to developing countries. Thus, they note that the revision of the review guidelines for BRs and NCs should be carried out together, while the revision of the review guidelines for GHG inventories should be carried out separately. In that regard, taking into account provisions on timing for reviews, a number of parties underscore the need to streamline the timeline for the NC and BR reviews.

Moreover, some parties note that relevant methodological work under the SBSTA, that focuses on reporting and review under the Kyoto Protocol, is being implemented in parallel with the work programme on the revision of the review guidelines under the Convention, and, therefore the latter should be harmonized with the work programme under the Kyoto Protocol.

SBSTA 36 invited parties’ submissions on elements of the work programme and on the timeline of proposed activities, as well as on the key elements of the revision of the review guidelines, and requested the Secretariat to prepare a synthesis report. [Publication: Synthesis Report on Work Programme on Developed Countries Biennial Reports and National Communications]