The Caribbean Cooperative MRV Hub (the "MRV Hub") is a sustainable cooperative institution for conducting climate change MRV in the Caribbean that generates objective data for use by Caribbean nations.
As part of the MRV Hub's commitment to keeping our members and interested parties updated we are pleased to share with you the MRV Hub Newsletter for August 2021 (11th Edition).
Wiley Barbour, Project Director
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MRV Hub Summer Academy 2021
The ongoing restraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have lead to another year of virtual MRV Hub Summer Academy. The online program spans across 8 weeks (4th August – 22nd September 2021); and consists of 3 hours of training per week including homework, a live lecture, and an office hour. The participants are benefitting from regional networking opportunities, discussions with 2020 alumni, peer learning as well as direct support from GHG experts working within the region.
The objective of this year’s summer academy is to learn and apply GHG inventory data collection, compilation, and documentation procedures. The key focus of each lecture will revolve around improving activity data within GHG inventories. As such, MRV Hub Country Focal Points were encouraged to nominate at least one individual from their country’s national statistics department, where if possible.
The MRV Hub awarded 2 participants from each member country full sponsorship to attend this 8-week virtual workshop and also extended an invitation to the 2020 MRV Hub Summer Academy cohort to return and participate in this year’s training. The Summer Academy is well represented by participants from Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago. This represented 9 of the 12 MRV Hub member countries with 25 individuals in total participating.
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Work Crew Update
The MRV Hub work crews continue to assess the availability of MRV Hub member country data, discover regional data gaps, determine MRV Hub member country user requirements for data management systems and spend a significant amount of time exploring solutions, engaging country representatives, and conducting research. Despite challenges faced, each work crew has made significant progress in more clearly understanding the technical capacity constraints of MRV Hub Member Countries which directly impacts the availability, quality, and access to datasets that provide adequate detail and time series consistency.
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MRV Hub Modeling & Projections Programme
The GHG Mitigation Modelling Tools Introduction Webinar Series was a 7-session series that ran from April to July 2021. This series introduced Caribbean countries to a wide range of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation modeling and projection models and tools. It also provided them with the knowledge necessary to select the most suitable tool based on the circumstances. The climate change divisions of Caribbean countries are better equipped to select appropriate tools for the preparation, planning, implementation, and reporting of mitigation actions for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Long-Term Low Emission Developments (LT-LEDS), other reporting under UNFCCC and planning, execution, and monitoring of mitigation policies and for accessing climate finance.
This series was organized under the Modelling and Projections Programme of the Caribbean Cooperative Measurement, Reporting and Verification Hub (MRV Hub) in collaboration with the Caribbean Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE), the UNFCCC RCC-St. George’s, and GHG modelling tool developers.
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MRV Hub Direct Support to Member Countries – Update
The MRV Hub team is currently engaged in about a dozen country-specific engagements in the region, working on projects covering greenhouse gas inventory (GHGI) compilation, mitigation analysis, data collection training, and creation of international reporting components (e.g. drafting NC/BUR Chapters), in Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, St. Kitts & Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, and Saint Lucia. This work has aided member countries in overcoming many of the identified challenges faced by governments by expanding local expertise through capacity-building initiatives embedded in work tasks and promoting compliance with UNFCCC reporting requirements.
Our first projects with MRV Hub Member Countries focused on GHG inventory development, and now we have begun expanding that focus to address a much wider set of challenges in our country-specific engagements, including developing Saint Lucia’s Mitigation Assessment for their First Biennial Update Report; supporting Antigua & Barbuda’s Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) project to assess the impacts of climate policies and actions; and helping The Bahamas with support on GHG Inventory, Mitigation Assessment, and MRV System tasks (see Figure 1). The Bahamas work allowed the MRV Hub Team to capture economies of scale by working on streamlining management of multiple tasks and coordinating work across several interrelated workstreams.
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COVID-19 Update
The region, including our member states, has embraced a global vaccination movement and has been developing protocols that protect residents but allow visitors for business and pleasure to safely enter and enjoy the countries. Additionally, more vaccine options are being made available with recent shipments of Pfizer being received in some countries (facilitated by the US Government). However, many countries have recently seen the emergence of the dangerous "Delta Variant" and a third wave of the pandemic. Governments are now working to boost their national protocols and plans to protect their citizens and visitors.
The MRV Hub and its implementing partners (WINDREF, GHGMI, RCC-St. George's, and UNDP-UNEP GSP) reconfirm our commitment to the region and stand firmly by our mission to foster regional and technical excellence while generating stronger policy-relevant carbon accounting and member country development of greenhouse gas inventories.
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Recent and Highlighted Events
July 15, 2021 | The RCC St. George’s, in collaboration with The MRV Hub, NDC Partnership, Climate Analytics, and AOSIS, launched its first session of this year’s Caribbean Exchanges series focused on turning commitments, as outlined in the revised NDCs, into concrete NDC implementation actions. The second session was held on August 19th which focused on best practices for long-term climate change strategies, including linkages with NDCs.
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Caribbean MRV Event Calendar
The MRV Hub and its network collect and post events relating to climate meetings and events in the region. This "Caribbean Event Calendar" has been created and is posted on our webpage.
Please feel free to send us any important dates we may have missed or as events and meetings are announced.
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Meet the MRV Hub Network
Brittany Meighan is a Program Associate at the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI) with the Caribbean Cooperative Measurement, Reporting, and Verification Hub (MRV Hub). Her work involves providing technical and institutional guidance for measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation actions in Hub countries.
Brittany also dedicates her efforts to strengthening regional institutional capabilities in GHG inventories and management by blending technical know-how with everyday practicality.
She is a Belizean national, with an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science from Galen University and the University of Indianapolis, as well as a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering from the Federal University of Ouro Preto in Brazil.
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The MRV Hub Newsletter is issued monthly and seeks to share important information about the Caribbean Cooperative Measurement, Reporting, and Verification Hub. If you have items of interest you would like us to share please email us and we will consider including them in the next newsletter.
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The CCMRVH is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag, with additional resources and technical support provided by the UNDP/UNEP Global Support Programme.
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