About half of developing countries express ambition to use agroforestry—the integration of trees with crops, livestock and other non-forest timber products—for adaptation and mitigation of climate change. In order for agroforestry contributions to be recognized and rewarded, however, countries need reliable systems for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV). Here we review, through key informant interviews and examination of official documents, how agroforestry is addressed in national MRV under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Our review highlights significant gaps between national ambition and national action and capabilities. These gaps are smaller in some countries than in others, but not even one country systematically includes agroforestry in all of its relevant MRV systems.