Compliance Deeper Dive

8.1. Technical Details

For a deeper exploration of the details included in the Paris Agreement Rulebook, the following content seeks to probe the decisions reached by the CMA on the mechanism to facilitate implementation and promote compliance. To structure this exploration and provide some guidance for implementation, the discussion is focused on the key questions of who, what, when, and where; for more on this approach, please see the associated methodology.

WHAT? (FURTHER EXPLANATION OF “WHAT”)

At COP24, Parties did not agree on the rules of the procedure for the Committee. The Committee will develop its own rules of procedure and recommend them to the CMA for adoption at CMA3/COP26 in November 2021 (20/CMA.1, Annex, para. 17). However, the decision from 2018 provides some guidance as to how the Committee will operate:

• The Committee cannot make decisions without a quorum of 10 members (20/CMA.1, Annex, para. 15).
• The Committee will aim to make decisions by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, as a last resort, the Committee may hold a vote. A decision must be adopted by three quarters of present members (20/CMA.1, Annex, para. 16).

Decision 20/CMA.1 outlines a number of specific measures that the Committee can take, with a view to facilitating implementation and promoting compliance. These measures may include:

• Engage in a dialogue with the Party concerned with the purpose of identifying challenges, making recommendations and sharing information, including in relation to accessing finance, technology and capacity-building support, as appropriate;
• Assist the Party concerned in the engagement with the appropriate finance, technology and capacity-building bodies or arrangements under or serving the Paris Agreement in order to identify possible challenges and solutions;
• Make recommendations to the Party concerned with regard to challenges and solutions referred to in paragraph 30(b) above and communicate such recommendations, with the consent of the Party concerned, to the relevant bodies or arrangements, as appropriate;
• Recommend the development of an action plan and, if so requested, assist the Party concerned in developing the plan;
• Issue findings of fact in relation to matters of implementation and compliance (20/CMA.1, Annex, para. 30).

The Committee can engage systemic issues on two fronts:

• The Committee may identify systemic issues faced by a number of Parties. The Committee may bring these issues (and any recommendations, as appropriate) to the CMA (20/CMA.1, Annex, para. 32).
• The CMA may request the Committee to examine systemic issues and report back (with recommendations, where appropriate) to the CMA (20/CMA.1, Annex, para. 33).

WHO? (FURTHER EXPLANATION OF “WHO”)

The Committee is made up of 12 members, each serving in their individual capacity. One member will be from the small island developing states. A second member will be from the least developed countries. The remaining 10 members will come from the five regional groups of the UN, with two members from each group (20/CMA.1, para. 5). There will also be an alternate for each member of the Committee.

Each member (and alternate) will serve terms of three years and can only serve two consecutive terms (20/CMA.1, Annex, para. 7). However, to stagger the terms, at CMA2, six members (and six alternates) were elected to two-year terms and six members (and six alternates) were elected to three-year terms.

8.2. Linkages with Other Elements of the Paris Agreement

Various elements of the Paris Agreement Rulebook are linked together, both implicitly and explicitly. These linkages build the Agreement’s plan-implement-review cycle and will support the implementation of the Agreement. This discussion details some of the linkages with the mechanism to facilitate implementation and promote compliance, building on the efforts first elaborated in Dagnet et al. (2017) and Dagnet et al. (2018), and including updated information from the final decisions reached by the CMA.

NDC Mitigation Elements. These elements are linked because the Article 15 expert committee will initiate consideration of issues if a Party does not communicate or maintain an NDC as required under Article 4 (20/CMA.1, para. 22).

Ex-ante Finance Information. There is a direct linkage between communicating information under Article 9.5 and the Article 15 expert committee. The committee will initiate consideration of issues if a Party fails to submit its 9.5 communication (20/CMA.1, para. 22).

Enhanced Transparency Framework. There are direct linkages between the enhanced transparency framework and the Article 15 expert committee. The committee will initiate consideration of issues if a Party fails to submit a biennial transparency report and the information required under Articles 13.7 and 13.9 or does not participate in the facilitative, multilateral consideration of progress under the enhanced transparency framework (20/CMA.1, para. 22). Further, based on the technical expert review reports prepared under the enhanced transparency framework, the committee, with consent of the Party, may consider issues “in cases of significant and persistent inconsistencies of the information submitted…with the modalities, procedures, and guidelines” of the enhanced transparency framework (20/CMA.1, para. 23).

Global Stocktake. These elements are linked because, though not explicitly noted in the global stocktake decision, information from the Article 15 expert committee could potentially serve as a source of input to the global stocktake. In conducting its work and considering its sources of inputs, the global stocktake is to consider information at a collective level on “barriers and challenges, including finance, technology and capacity-building gaps, faced by developing countries” (19/CMA.1, para. 36f).

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