Beyond the emissions pledges made by different countries, a cornerstone for ensuring the effectiveness of the 2015 international climate change agreement will be the mechanisms in place to hold states to account for how they live up to their commitments. While legal form has been viewed as an important indicator of the strength of the agreement, here the authors highlight how accountability mechanisms at both the international as well as domestic levels can be strengthened irrespective of the international legal form chosen for the agreement.
They suggest governments and others can take several actions to strengthen the effectiveness of the 2015 agreement, emphasizing that a mix of steps at the domestic and international level are needed.
At the international level, they suggest:
- Improving the current system for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), and thereby increasing transparency;
- Establishing an independent body for implementation review focused on facilitation;
- Opening the MRV processes to non-state actors; and
- Anchoring an accountability mechanism in the core (legally binding) agreement (e.g. through a provision providing a strong mandate for the development of further modalities and procedures).
At the domestic level, the following actions can be taken:
- Clearly assigning responsibilities for implementation among governmental actors;
- Collecting data and developing indicators across the various spheres of commitment, not only limited to mitigation;
- Mandating national audit institutions to conduct regular audits of the activities of governments in relation to commitments;
- Strengthening capacity of parliamentarians to provide oversight; and
- Investing in climate change education of the public and the capacity of civil society.
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