The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) recently hosted a series of Stakeholder Training Workshops on the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Data. The sessions specifically targeted stakeholders from the manufacturing and waste sectors.
The workshops formed part of the project titled “Preparation of Trinidad and Tobago’s First Biennial Transparency Report and a Combined Second Biennial Transparency Report and Fourth National Communication (BTR1 and BTR2/NC4) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.” The project is financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is being executed by the EMA, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), through December 2028.
In alignment with the objective to strengthen national capacity for MRV, the workshop opened with a presentation by Mr. Javed Lakhan, Technical Coordinator, GEF BTR1 and BTR2/NC4 Project, who highlighted the importance of MRV in national climate reporting. Participants also received an overview of the national GHG inventory submitted under Trinidad and Tobago’s First Biennial Transparency Report to the UNFCCC in 2024. The training aimed to deepen stakeholder understanding of methodologies for collecting activity data and using this data along with relevant emission factors to estimate GHG emissions. Attendees then engaged in a hands-on exercise on calculating GHG estimations, followed by a guided overview of navigating the National Transparency System (NTS), which is the platform for the submission of GHG emission data by stakeholders. These sessions were facilitated by Ms. Sue-Ann Ramnarine, Technical Officer II, Air Unit, and Ms. Treina Dinoo-Ramlochan, Senior Environmental Officer, Air Unit.
The main benefit of the workshops is the development of stakeholder capacity to collect, analyse and report on GHG emissions data relevant to their sectors—critical groundwork as national GHG emissions reporting is expected to become mandatory in the future. It is expected that stakeholders will use the information and knowledge gained from these training workshops to estimate their own respective emissions at their organisations and submit this data to the EMA through the NTS by mid-2026, in time to be included in the next report (BTR2/NC4) to be submitted to the UNFCCC, in December 2026.
National Reporting on GHG emissions is part of our ongoing fight against climate change, as accurate data is paramount to informed decision-making. Identifying priority sectors for emissions abatement can only be done through a thorough analysis of national emissions as a whole. In addition, the submission of national GHG reports helsp us to meet our international commitments under the Paris Agreement, which enables Trinidad and Tobago to benefit from various forms of international support, such as monetary funding and technical assistance.
The EMA remains committed to the provision of training, technical guidance and opportunities for collaboration as Trinidad and Tobago moves toward a more robust and data-driven approach to managing greenhouse gas emissions.
