Data-driven NDC Implementation in Pacific Nations

This session is convened as part of “Vale ni Vanua: The Knowledge Exchange”, the Stakeholder Engagement Program of Pre-COP31 in Fiji (5 to 8 October 2026). As the final ministerial staging point on the road to COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, Pre-COP31 offers a timely platform to translate Pacific priorities into the global climate agenda. Pacific Island countries are advancing ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) under the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework, yet face persistent constraints in data systems, institutional capacity and digital infrastructure needed to sustain credible measurement, reporting and verification (MRV). Strengthening national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and MRV systems is a foundational enabler of climate ambition, unlocking access to climate finance, informing mitigation planning, and building trust in reported progress. The session brings together Pacific country experiences alongside international partnership perspectives on data-driven NDC implementation. It spotlights Kiribati’s newly developed national GHG inventory tool, one of the first of its kind in the Pacific, together with Fiji’s experience on strengthening GHG inventories and MRV. The session will include perspectives on how national governments can work together with municipal and provincial authorities so that Pacific cities and municipalities can play a stronger role in delivering NDC commitments. It will amplify the need for climate transparency and collectively translating NDCs into measurable at-scale and multi-level action that helps meet Paris Agreement targets. The discussion will draw out the institutional arrangements, data systems and capacity investments that make GHG reporting sustainable over time, rather than a one-off exercise. It will cover how countries have institutionalised inventory tools within government systems, managed data flows across agencies, and built the technical capacity to maintain reporting through successive NDC and BTR cycles. Insights from this session will carry forward into COP31 in Antalya, feeding Pacific priorities on transparency, GHG inventories and MRV into the wider COP31 agenda. Objectives: Showcase Pacific-led digital tools and institutional approaches for strengthening GHG inventories and MRV systems. Highlight practical enablers, lessons and challenges in NDC and BTR reporting from national government experience. Highlight how municipal and provincial authorities can contribute more effectively to NDC planning, monitoring and reporting, and implementation while working together with national governments. Connect Pacific national efforts with regional and international partnership platforms supporting transparency and climate action. Identify pathways for peer learning, replication and cooperation across the Pacific and beyond. Partner: The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF)