b'Volume #3 / 2024 5Dr Werner L. Kutsch Director General of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS)AScience supports societies lmost weekly, we hear about floods, droughts, heat waves and the related loss and damage including public health emergencies. Climate change is progressing and the time to act is now. The truth is not in glossy speeches made at international conferences, like COP28, the truth is inin being efficient in their the atmosphere. Global warming is caused by excessive concentrations of greenhouse gases and theclimate actions.inconvenient truth is that these continue to rise unabated (see the figure on the left). Almost a decade after the Paris Agreement, we still see increasing fossil fuel emissions every year. While the window for action is closing, the world is still waiting for a real turnaround in fossil fuel emissions and the decar-bonisation of economies.Reporting is the act of compiling this information into Over the last few decades, the scientific knowledgeinventories and disseminating them (e.g. to the about greenhouse gases and our capacity to observeUNFCCC). This ensures that the monitored information concentrations and fluxes has grown significantly.can be accessed by a variety of users. Scientific Scientists now have a large toolbox to support societiesreporting may happen via the IPCC or independently in their efforts to curb fossil fuel emissions. In addition,by NGOs, such as the Global Carbon Project.researchers can help identify the best ways to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.Verification is, within the UNFCCC process, the act of In this edition of FLUXES, we want to open thisanother party independently verifying the reported toolbox and explore how science-based Monitoring,information to ensure accuracy. Scientifically, the term Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems are part ofalso includes the reconciliation of reported inventories the solution. This is not trivialthere are manyand greenhouse gas observations, meaning that an different perspectives on what MRV systems are:independent parameter (e.g. greenhouse gas concentra-tion in the atmosphere) verifies the reported inventory Monitoring (or measurement) refers to data and infor- of a country or region which helps improve its accuracy.mation regarding emissions. Depending on the MRV system in question, this could be measurements ofAll of this means that MRV is a critical tool for tracking greenhouse gases or emission estimates. The UNFCCCclimate action and empowering countries to improve system uses emission inventories based on statisticaltheir progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In data on activities and related emission factors, whilethis volume of FLUXES, we are exploring how research, scientific approaches use observations of greenhousesystematic observations and ICOS scientific commu-gas concentrations in the atmosphere, for example. nity can be of support in employing MRV systems.'