Enviro News Asia, Paris — A new regional platform aimed at strengthening climate action, transparency, and reporting across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region was officially launched on 2 December 2025 to support countries in meeting their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development jointly launched the Hindu Kush Himalaya Regional Climate Action Transparency Hub (HKHRCATH) following a three-year memorandum of understanding between the two institutions.
The hub serves as a dedicated capacity-building and knowledge-sharing platform for ICIMOD’s eight Regional Member Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan. It aims to enhance regional cooperation, improve data availability, and support consistent climate reporting.
The launch took place during a Regional Stakeholders Consultation Workshop in Paro, where country representatives identified priority actions to implement the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). The framework enables countries to track progress on climate mitigation, adaptation, and support received and needed.
ICIMOD Director General Pema Gyamtsho described the hub as a major step forward for regional climate cooperation, emphasizing its role in helping countries assess progress, identify challenges, and collaborate on shared climate risks affecting mountain ecosystems.
Representing the UNFCCC secretariat, Jigme, Manager of the Transparency Division, highlighted that the ETF is essential for building trust and guiding evidence-based climate policy, particularly in the HKH region, where fragile mountain ecosystems face accelerating climate impacts.
The hub is designed to support national decision-makers, investors, and stakeholders by strengthening technical capacity for transparent climate reporting and by facilitating access to resources and regional expertise. Outcomes from the consultation workshop will guide the hub’s future activities as a regional technical center.
The launch follows discussions at the UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil, where ICIMOD and its member countries advanced the mountain agenda, including climate finance, loss and damage, and transparent climate reporting.
The Hindu Kush Himalaya region, often referred to as the “Water Tower of Asia,” is warming faster than the global average and faces increasing climate-related risks such as floods, droughts, and extreme rainfall, affecting the livelihoods of billions of people across Asia. (*)
