A workshop was held on 26 May 2026 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to present and validate the outputs of Cambodia’s third project with the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT). The event brought together over 50 stakeholders, including senior officials from the national and subnational government levels, the private sector, academia, and development partners. 

The ICAT project, led by the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia, with technical support from ClimateSI, developed a Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework for Cambodia’s waste sector, and integrated it into the overarching national transparency framework.

Strengthening Cambodia’s waste sector transparency

Building on successful previous projects that strengthened and developed transparency frameworks for the renewable energy and transport sectors since 2018, this collaboration between ICAT and Cambodia extended the work to the waste sector.

Initiated in July 2025, the project developed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) tracking indicators, conducted capacity-building workshops, and integrated the sectoral MRV framework into Cambodia’s national MRV system. Two ICAT tools were deployed throughout the project: the Waste Sector Climate Action Data (WasCAD) tool and the Greenhouse Gas Abatement Cost Model (GACMO).

The successful development of Cambodia’s waste sector MRV framework and the WasCAD application represents an important milestone in strengthening climate transparency and evidence-based decision making. – Mr. OUK Navann, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Policy and Strategy, Ministry of Environment

The waste sector is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions in Cambodia, where waste-related emissions increased by 50 per cent between 2016 and 2022, as reported in Cambodia’s Biennial Transparency Report. Cambodia’s third NDC sets out ambitious mitigation actions for the waste sector, including the construction of bio-digesters, landfill gas extraction, centralized recycling for industrial waste, and improved wastewater management. The MRV framework developed through this project supports the collection, management, and analysis of data to track progress on these commitments.

Validating outputs and ensuring long-term sustainability

The workshop brought together stakeholders to validate the project outputs, gather final inputs and recommendations, and to discuss the roles, responsibilities, and capacity needs for the continued operation of the WasCAD system. All stakeholders endorsed the framework and recognized WasCAD as a practical and robust tool for tracking waste-sector mitigation actions under Cambodia’s NDC 3.0 and reporting in future Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs).

Through the support of ICAT, Cambodia is better equipped to track progress towards our NDC commitments, enhance reporting under the ETF, and strengthen institutional collaboration across sectors. – Mr. OUK Navann, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Policy and Strategy, Ministry of Environment

The workshop participants also highlighted the importance of continued capacity building and stronger institutional coordination for the long-term operation of the system.

Tools and capacity only matter when stakeholders are engaged in the process – and that’s where collaboration between different agencies, municipalities, and those responsible for waste management is critically important. – Oleg Bulanyi, Senior Programme Officer, ICAT Secretariat

Looking ahead

The project outputs are expected to support Cambodia in institutionalizing its waste-sector NDC tracking framework, strengthening its capacity to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). and mobilize climate finance and stakeholder engagement for waste-sector mitigation interventions.