ICAT has published a new edition of the ICAT Spotlight, a quarterly newsletter that puts – as the name suggests – a spotlight on a particular aspect of transparency. It includes a feature story and spotlights recent developments in country projects, new resources in the ICAT toolbox and relevant events.

In this edition, the focus is on policy assessment. Data-based assessments are at the core of what transparency can offer to countries in their efforts to improve their climate action, they are at the centre of climate-action transparency. Strong policies based on evidence bring countries closer to meeting their goals and ambitions, both climate and development-related. The ICAT toolbox offers valuable resources to support countries with the assessment of their policies, such as the ICAT series of policy assessment guides.

This Spotlight also features a summary of ICAT’s activities at the June UN Climate Meetings (SB60), where ICAT met representatives of partner countries and organizations in support of their efforts to strengthen national transparency frameworks. These meetings came at a critical time, only months before the deadline for the submission of the first biennial transparency reports and less than a year before NDC updates are due. The side event that Cuba hosted together with ICAT was focused on policy assessment, the subject of this Spotlight.

Additionally, highlights from ICAT’s country and regional projects are featured: Niger using transparency to boost its energy sector, advancing both climate action and national development is a strong example for effective climate action transparency. And the first workshop for ICAT’s regional hub for Central American countries and the Dominican Republic defined the work plan for a third region supported by ICAT.

Finally, explore the new ICAT Transformational Change toolkit, an innovative new resource to assess the transformational change potential of policies, measures and investments. It equips policymakers with valuable tools to set forth the transformation that is necessary for a low-carbon future. This edition of the Spotlight includes a recording of our webinar on the toolkit.

You can view the ICAT Spotlight here. Happy reading!