June 2010: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a paper with suggestions for improving national measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) titled “Core Elements of National Reports.”

Focusing on the Copenhagen Accord’s call for national communications to be submitted every two years, the paper investigates options for easing the burden facing non-Annex I countries to fulfill this requirement. In particular, the paper suggests differentiating information that needs to be regularly updated from that which may remain constant over longer periods.

More regular updates would include information especially pertinent to the international community, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, financial flows, medium term goals, and progress with meeting targets. More infrequent, but also more comprehensive reports could aim at providing information that is important to the implementation of national climate policies, such as changing national circumstances, research observations, adaptation measures, etc. According to the authors, such a tiered approach to national reporting would lower costs of reporting and improve its value for national and international stakeholders. [The Report] [OECD MRV Website]