Capacity Building Workshop CDM Standardized Baselines: opportunities to experience simplified tools for MRV

The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), in collaboration with the Environment Protection Agency of Liberia, the UNDP/UNEP Global Support Programme (GSP) and the Regional Collaboration Centre (RCC) of Lomé organized a two day national capacity building workshop on CDM Standardized Baselines: opportunities to experience simplified tools for MRV from the 29^th to 30^th of August at the Golden Key Hotel, in Monrovia, Liberia.

The workshop was organized in the framework of the ECREEE Climate Change Programme (ECCP) and as part of ECREEEs commitment to support ECOWAS countries in the implementation of their energy sector nationally determined contributions - NDCs goals towards the achievement of the Paris Agreement. Measurement Reporting Verification –known as MRV which was the main focus of the workshop, is an important aspect of implementing the Paris agreement. 

The workshop was tailored for 50 participants from relevant ministries and organizations that have a potential role to play in the establishment of a national MRV system in Liberia. It was designed to also prepare the ground for a development and submission of standardized baselines for the energy sector in Liberia, and to provide advice and guidance on:

• The MRV concept and the reporting requirements under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement;
• The setting up of solid and sustainable institutional arrangements for MRV;
• The elements for road-testing processes for data collection, processing, compilation and reporting in specific sectors, as component of a broader national MRV system.

Speaking at the opening, Adeola Adebiyi, programme officer at ECREEE, noted that keeping track of ghg emissions and reporting on progress on the achievement of national climate goals are critical to enhance the transparency and resiliency of ECOWAS countries. However, ECOWAS countries face a lot of challenges setting up robust national MRV systems. ECREEE as a regional institution that promotes sustainable clean energy, is now providing support to countries in this regard and a similar workshop was held in Sierra Leone from the 22nd to 23rd of March of this year. This workshop in Liberia is expected to kick-start internally the process to put in place the right institutional arrangements to support a country driven, long term, sustainable MRV system for Liberia.  

Madam Anyaa Vohiri, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency,EPA, stated that the electricity, transport and waste sectors represent the country’s strategic options for Climate mitigation. In addition, Liberia’s NDC recognized the need for support in order to ensure that an MRV system is capacitated to track progress toward the implementation of our NDCs including non-GHG co-benefits. She then thanked all the organizers of the workshop.

The workshop also feeds into the activities of the West Africa South-South Collaboration Network on MRV established in 2016 under the UNDP/UNEP Global Support Programme which ECREEE is member.