What a Biennial Transparency Report is under the Paris Agreement, what five GCC states reported in their first BTRs, what the data shows, and what Kuwait's missing report means.
Introduction
The Paris Agreement lets each country set its own target. In return, it asks every country to show its working. The instrument for that is the Biennial Transparency Report, or BTR, filed every two years under the Enhanced Transparency Framework in Article 13. The first round was due by 31 December 2024.
The first BTRs matter in the GCC for a practical reason: they contain the first national greenhouse gas inventories prepared under one common set of rules, with the underlying data in standard tables. This article explains what a BTR is, what five GCC states reported, what the data shows and what the sixth state’s missing report means.
What a BTR contains
Every BTR has two mandatory parts under Article 13.7, and a third for developed countries under Article 13.9:
- A national inventory report of emissions by sources and removals by sinks, using IPCC methodologies, with the data in the Common Reporting Tables (CRT).
- Information to track progress on the NDC, with the indicators in the Common Tabular Formats (CTF).
- Support provided (finance, technology, capacity building), mandatory for developed countries.
Developing countries may also report climate impacts and adaptation, and the support they need and receive. Each BTR then goes through a technical expert review, and every country takes part in a facilitative, multilateral consideration of progress with its peers. The rules are in the modalities, procedures and guidelines adopted at Katowice in 2018 (decision 18/CMA.1).
The GCC filings
| First BTR filed | Inventory years | Latest total excl. land use (MtCO2e) | Data tables published | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | March 2025 | 2019 to 2021 | 716.1 (2021) | CRT |
| Oman | 2025 | 2020 to 2022 | 95.7 (2022) | CRT, CTF |
| UAE | November 2025 | 2019 to 2022 | 201.8 (2022) | CRT, CTF (NDC and support) |
| Bahrain | November 2025 | 2017 to 2022 | 38.8 (2022) | CRT, CTF |
| Qatar | September 2026 | 2019 to 2023 | 118.8 (2023) | CRT, CTF |
| Kuwait | Not filed | Latest published: 2016 (BUR1, 2019) | 86.3 (2016, older methods, not comparable) | None |
All five BTR inventories use IPCC AR5 global warming potentials. None reports a series back to 1990: every one relies on the time-series flexibility open to developing countries.
What the first inventories show
- Energy dominates. Energy is 80% to 90% of emissions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. Oman is the exception at 55%, because industrial processes are a third of its inventory.
- Power, water and gas processing are the largest blocks. Energy industries are close to half of national emissions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia; in Qatar, gas processing and other energy industries are 45%.
- Methane comes mainly from waste. Waste is the largest methane source in four of the five; only in Bahrain do oil and gas leaks lead.
- Emissions are still rising in most states. Totals grew between the first and latest inventory years in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, and fell slightly in the UAE (-0.8% from 2019 to 2022).
- Coverage is uneven. Saudi Arabia and Qatar report no fluorinated gases, using the flexibility the rules allow. Qatar and Bahrain do not estimate land use. Where F-gases are reported they are material: in the UAE, refrigerant emissions rose 219% between 2019 and 2022 with cooling demand.
For the detail, see GCC NDCs compared and what your country’s NDC means for your bank’s climate risk.
Kuwait’s missing report
Kuwait has not filed its first BTR. Its latest published inventory is for 2016, prepared with older methods, and its current NDC dates from 2021. Kuwait is also the only GCC state without an NDC 3.0.
Under decision 20/CMA.1, the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee initiates consideration automatically when a Party has not submitted a mandatory report under Article 13.7. The committee is facilitative and non-punitive: it opens a dialogue, can help the country reach finance and capacity-building support, and can recommend an action plan. It does not impose penalties. For companies operating in Kuwait, the practical consequence is the absence of a current national inventory to benchmark against.
Why it matters for companies
National inventories are built from the same IPCC methods that underpin corporate greenhouse gas accounting. As GCC governments improve their national reporting, the data they collect increasingly comes from facilities and companies: the UAE already runs a federal MRV platform and a national carbon register. Companies that can produce an inventory to ISO 14064-1, have it verified to ISO 14064-3 and back their sustainability reporting with independent assurance are ready for what the national systems will ask of them.
Sources: first Biennial Transparency Reports of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar with their Common Reporting Tables and Common Tabular Formats; Kuwait’s first Biennial Update Report; UNFCCC first-BTR submissions page; decisions 18/CMA.1 and 20/CMA.1. All as held at 2 November 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Biennial Transparency Report?
A Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) is the report every Party to the Paris Agreement submits every two years under the Enhanced Transparency Framework in Article 13. It must contain a national greenhouse gas inventory report and the information needed to track progress on the country's NDC. Developed countries must also report the finance, technology and capacity-building support they provide. The first BTRs were due by 31 December 2024.
Has Kuwait submitted its Biennial Transparency Report?
No. At 2 November 2026 Kuwait had not submitted its first BTR, which was due by 31 December 2024. Kuwait's latest published national inventory is for 2016, in its first Biennial Update Report (2019).
What happens if a country does not submit its BTR?
Under the modalities and procedures of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee (decision 20/CMA.1, paragraph 22(a)), the committee initiates consideration of the issue when a Party has not submitted a mandatory report under Article 13.7. The committee is facilitative and non-punitive: it engages in dialogue, can help the Party access support and can recommend an action plan. It does not impose penalties.
What is the difference between a BTR and a BUR?
Biennial Update Reports (BURs) were the reporting route for developing countries under the UNFCCC before the Paris Agreement's transparency framework took effect. BTRs replaced them from 2024 and apply one common set of rules to every Party, with flexibility for developing countries that need it. Bahrain never filed a BUR, so its BTR is its first biennial report.