UNDP ,  UNEP ,  UDP , and the  WRI , in cooperation with the UNFCCC Secretariat, are currently developing joint guidance to be used by countries as they prepare for NDC implementation. The guidance will be informed by real-world country examples and a public draft will be available for comment by countries in early 2017. In order to seek early feedback on the guidance, we have developed a draft outline, available here. We kindly request that you read the outline and respond to the questions below. Your feedback is instrumental in ensuring that the guidance is as practical as possible and grounded in national experiences. 

1) Country Experiences

How has the Paris Agreement and the (I)NDC process catalyzed progress on climate action in your country?  What are the key areas in which your country will need support or guidance as you prepare for NDC implementation?

2) Scope of the Outline:

Does the draft outline for the NDC implementation guidance reflect the key areas identified above?  What other thematic areas (if any) would you suggest including to make the guidance as practical as possible for countries in the process of preparing for NDC implementation?

2) Additional Suggestions:

Based on your professional experience (and experience in using Designing and Preparing INDCs, if applicable), what suggestions would you have for ensuring that the NDC implementation guidance is concrete yet applicable to a wide spectrum of countries, stakeholders, and types of NDCs?  

9 Nov 2016 - 9 Dec 2016
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Comments (13)

Rebecca Carman
Rebecca Carman Moderator

Colleagues, welcome to UNDP’s e-discussion on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)! The last year has seen several important milestones on climate change, including the adoption and entry into force of the Paris Agreement. Countries are already starting to make impressive progress in preparing for implementation of their NDCs in the context of the agreement.

This e-discussion provides a forum for countries to exchange early experiences in this process so that we can learn from one another. In particular, we are seeking your feedback on an NDC implementation guidance document that UNDP is developing in collaboration with the UNFCCC Secretariat, UNEP-DTU, and the World Resources Institute. Our hope is to make this guidance as concrete as possible, by understanding and incorporating your national experiences.

Thank you ahead of time for your contributions to this important discussion!

Rebecca Carman
Rebecca Carman Moderator

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to participate in the first phase of our e-discussion. It has been extremely interesting to hear of the impressive work in developing countries, as well as suggestions for how to improve and structure the NDC guidance document.

Country experiences

One of our main objectives was learning how the Paris Agreement and the (I)NDC process had catalyzed climate action in countries, and what support was still needed in preparing for NDC implementation. Representatives from Moldova, Brazil, Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia, Lebanon and Uganda shared their thoughts and I highly recommend that you read their very insightful examples, if you have not done so already. Both Lebanon and Ecuador have prepared high-level roadmaps for NDC implementation – you can find Ecuador’s (in Spanish) here: https://www.unteamworks.org/bitcache/df25824a72f9312189faba0459b38a1d52c6e14e?vid=591723&nid=537701&parent_vid=591454.

It was clear from the examples provided that developing countries put a lot of effort into preparing their INDCs – undertaking extensive stakeholder consultations and drawing upon existing climate change policies, strategies and legal frameworks, as well as adaptation and mitigation actions and strategies, to define their NDC vision and/or targets. The National Communications were also a key resource. 

There was general agreement that the INDC design process and subsequent Paris Agreement had provided momentum and given a higher level of priority to climate change in national governments, although it was noted that more than goodwill is needed to sustain these efforts – namely, mechanisms by which to truly enforce laws and targets. Another key benefit identified was that the INDC served to bring together a range of national climate change efforts into a more comprehensive single vision.

Scope and content of the NDC implementation guidance

In addition to the country representatives listed above, we also received comments from Ricardo-AEA, World Bank and GIZ on the proposed outline for the UNDP/WRI/UNEP/DTU NDC implementation guidance document. Overall, the proposed outline resonated with reviewers. It was noted that while the document would need to be generic to be applicable to a wider number of countries, including detail was important in order to the document to be really useful.

Several commenters were curious as to whether mitigation and adaptation would be treated separately, noting the importance of adaptation as a priority issue in many developing countries. The interplay between political, technical and stakeholder participation processes was also highlighted as important for raising ambition. Other recommendations included: how to link NDCs to the sustainable development agenda; including indicators of quality or progress, as well as potential corrective measures that could be used if not meeting targets; and including a toolbox of financial tools and approaches.

Ricardo-AEA also shared the quick-start guide to planning for NDC implementation that was developed in collaboration with CDKN: http://www.cdkn.org/ndc-guide/

 

Rebecca Carman
Rebecca Carman Moderator

Thanks Kenneth. Do you have any thoughts on the format of the guidance? What works well in your experience in Uganda for sharing knowledge?

Kenneth Barungi

Yes, the Paris aGreement has induced a degree of awareness in the elite sections of the society, increasing debate, some action and proposals for mitigation are emerging. 

NEEDS include :

1. Creating awareness about realities of climate change and impacts on communities 

2.Adaptation technologies which are affordable and sustainable 

3. Subsidies towards substitute of fossil fuels, wood, etc

 

Kenneth Barungi

Hi, Everybody

In Colombia the NDC is to reduce our emissions on 20% to the 2030, based on the calculated emissions of 2010 (calculated for the First Colombian BUR), and reduce 30% if we receive international cooperation. However, the implementation of that target has not been a simple processes whithin the country because productive sectors are really concerned about the goal and what will be their commitment to help on their achievement. As a country we have now a tough disussion about how to distribute the 20% among economic sectors, and I think this is a discussion that not only Colombia has, then perhaps some capacity building is needed.

Furthermore, the national discussions about the NDC's implementation should be based on transparency, for instance in Colombia a problem is that the Ministry of Environment contract a University to make projections and have the 20%, but now for economic sectors nobody knows how that projections were made, and this of course increase the discussion about implementation.

Finally, I think is very important to include in this work group discussions about Adaptation NDCs. Colombia made his commitment, but I think we should advance on thnk about how to orientate the countries on how to measure the achievement of this kind of NDCs.

These are just a few initial reactions about NDCs, and needs for implementation within the countries.

JE

 

 

Kenneth Barungi

1) Country Experiences

Before Paris agreement, mitigation actions were developed as isolated efforts in Ecuador. The LECB program since January 2015 was asked to integrate all the mitigation initiatives in the energy sector of the country and to determine the conditional and unconditional contribution of the country.

After nine months of work with several counterparts the program delivered the requested products to the Ministry of Environment. In addition, an additional external verification was asked in order to approve the data obtained. In this regard, the Spanish association of Normalization (AENOR) was hired for verifying the methodology and the results obtained by the LECB program in Ecuador. On august 2015 the satisfactory certification was issued. On October 1st the INDC of Ecuador containing the technical information provided by the LECB was uploaded in the UNFCCC registry platform.

Nowadays the LECB program in Ecuador is leading the work in order to expand of the NDC to all the IPCC sectors this work will be developed during 2017 and integrates the support of additional multilateral cooperation. In addition, the LECB is programing to link the CPEIR process to the NDC in order to establish the investment needed to reach the objectives for the NDC.

Ecuador currently needs technical, and financial support in the new phase described above.

 

2) Scope of the Outline:

 

In our developing countries the adaptation issue is very important, for this reason I would recommend to integrate a section dedicated to adaptation because this area is much wider and complicated.

It is also important to recommend the application of methodologies dedicated to analyze the expenditure, institution and political situation of the country regarding climate change on whose basis financial , institutional and political gaps could be addressed.  The CPEIR and PCEIR methodologies are being applied in our country and is consider the departure point regarding this approach.

 

2) Additional Suggestions:

It is prevailing the compromise of the stakeholders involved in determining the scenarios, the technical and financial capacities in order to address the compromises should be evaluated. Regarding financial mechanisms, the countries should have clarity regarding the conditions of possible donors ( GCF, multilaterals among others).

Finally the possibility to analyze new unilateral funding mechanisms as ITMOS should be addressed mainly for developing countries.

  • An initial draft of the NDC preparation approach in Ecuador is shared

Kenneth Barungi

 Country Experiences

1. I am pleased to present to you the National Action Plan on Climate Change and show you how it is inserted into the National Planning and Programming system. The National Action Plan for Climate Change was prepared by the National Council on Climate Change and the Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency of the Republic of Guatemala.

 

2. In 2009, Guatemala approved a National Policy on Climate Change. This policy was the basis for the development of the Framework Law on Climate Change, one of the first in Latin America, and being enforced since 2013. The law contains the most important guidelines for state planning in the face of climate change.

 

Under this law, it specifically creates

• the National Climate Change Council

• Orders the elaboration of the PANCC

• Orders the preparation of PEIS

• orders the integration of CC into public investment planning and programming  and in the national planning system.

 

3. In compliance with the law, in 2014 the preparation of the National Action Plan for Climate Change began. It was a process that took two years of consultations, coordinated by the Secretary of Planning and Programming of the Presidency of the Republic of Guatemala. It involved all sectors of the country, represented in the National Climate Change Council, the government sector, civil society, indigenous peoples, universities, municipal governments and the private sector.

 

4. In September 2015 Guatemala presented its INDC and in December of that same year, Guatemala signed the Paris Agreement and the objectives of Sustainable Development. These circumstances made it necessary for Guatemala to adjust its National Action Plan on Climate Change to incorporate its international commitments. It represented an enormous effort for all sectors of the country that are present today.

 

  5. The objective of the Plan is Define in a clear and organized way, the main actions and  guidelines that must be followed by the Governmental Institutions and its sectors, in order to contribute in an efficient manner to the reduction of vulnerability in which most of the population is.  To extend the adaptation capacity of the country and reduce the emissions of the greenhouse effects in the face of the threat of climate change and climate variability. 

 6. The National Action Plan on Climate Change contains guidelines for adaptation and mitigation. It is developed by sectors. For each sector, an action plan is drawn up containing a frame of reference and a matrix that specifies the objectives pursued, the results, the indicators, the term, the prioritized territory and those who are responsible.

 7. Summarizing it, we can assure, that with a great effort from our country, climate change has been considered in the national planning system and it goes as follows:

-We developed a national climate change policy and based on it, we developed a Framework Law on Climate Change that mandates the national planning process.

 The law allowed to give the guidelines to build a National Development Plan and this, together with the second national communication on climate change were the basis for Guatemala to present its INDC in 2015.

 In that same year 2015, Guatemala assumed the commitments to achieve the sustainable development objectives and the Paris Agreement. The commitments were made in the INDC, the SDGs, and the Paris Agreement and were collected and taken into account in the construction of the first National Action Plan on Climate Change.

 Our Climate Change Law mandates that all public institutions develop their Institutional Strategic Plans (PEIs) based on the National Action Plan. The law also mandates that the National Action Plan be updated according to upcoming national communications. As from the validity of the Paris Agreement, the National Action Plan will also be updated according to the new NDCs.

 The National Action Plan provides for a monitoring and evaluation mechanism.

The National Planning System will be guided by the principles and safeguards established by the Framework Law on Climate Change.

We considerate extremely important the estimation of NDC implementation costs, identification of potential funding sources (public, private, international), and assessments of current public expenditures and private investments related to climate change. Our INDC and our National Action Plan  shall include in the future this topic.

Rebecca Carman
Rebecca Carman Moderator

Dear Alejandara,

This is a very interesting example -- thanks for taking the time to describe in detail the plans of Guatemala. We are  actually discussing institutional arrangements, engagement and awareness raising in Phase 2. Please go here to comment: https://www.unteamworks.org/NDCimplementation/Phase2. In particular, I'd love to hear more about how you will ensure the institutional framework operates as you envisage -- will Ministries sign MOUs, make decisions through committees, etc.

thanks again!

Higor Rafael Lopes do Nascimento
Higor Rafael Lopes do Nascimento
Dear, The important thing is not just to pass laws! But we need measures and solutions that can mitigate the effects of gases. In Brazil, for example, it has the National Air Quality Program. But in practice, nothing works. And in other countries it's all the same. Therefore, the most necessary are effective actions to really be able to change. We are waiting for changes, not just in Brazil. But in every country. We all need to unite to decrease more and more with pollution, be it Air, Water and Soil. For it is only enough to have one of these polluted systems that already can be verified the changes in nature.
Rebecca Carman
Rebecca Carman Moderator

Dear Higor -- thank you for your insights. Do you think it is not worth putting time into legislation, or rather that legislation is needed PLUS the commitment to enforce the laws? What would be a plausible and workable alternative to legislation? Is there any successful experiences on addressing environmental or pollution issues in Brazil that you can think of and what it was that made them successful?

We are discussing some of these themes in our Phase 2 discussion on the institutional arrangements that countries are putting in place to support NDC implementation, as well as how to continue engaging and raising awareness of key stakeholders to ensure that the momentum from Paris can be maintained. We'd appreciate your hearing your thoughts if you have time. Please go here to comment: https://www.unteamworks.org/NDCimplementation/Phase2.

Kenneth Barungi

Thank you for the chance to comment on the draft outline of your NDC implementation guidance. This e-discussion is a great idea and the outline you set out looks really good.

We think it might be helpful to include an introductory section on who the guide is for, what it aims to achieve, what it covers, how it can be used etc. As you know, Ricardo Energy & Environment and CDKN published a Quick Start Guide on NDC implementation in October 2016, we are currently working with GIZ on linking NAPs and NDCs, and other guidance will be coming out in the future on specific elements of NDC implementation. It could be useful at this stage to collectively consider countries’ needs for NDC implementation support, and identify which of those support needs the different guidance documents are aiming to address- so that they build on and complement each other as effectively as possible.

 One question we had was what guidance might be needed on delivery of the NDC. We note that your outline has a section on preparing the NDC implementation plan, and one on updating strategies based on reviews of progress. Might guidance also be needed on how to implement the plan? We covered this in to an extent in the Quick-Start Guide, by looking at ongoing issues such as capacity building, stakeholder engagement and coordination of climate actions. Is this an area you are planning on covering?

Other comments below:

  • Will you be addressing mitigation and adaptation separately? The Quick-Start Guide looks at these separately, considers the synergies between them and for adaptation explicitly links to the NAP process.
  • Your outline mentions monitoring and reporting of mitigation and adaptation actions - is it also intended to include the same for support? 

For information, the Quick-Start Guide to NDC implementation can be found online here: http://www.cdkn.org/ndc-guide; also attached below.

We are looking forward to working with you and others as this develops.