Supporting international climate and development policy in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
CONTEXT
Developing and emerging economies are already particularly hard hit by climate change, the impacts of which are jeopardising their sustainable growth and undermining advances in the fight against poverty, hunger and disease. Climate change is thus one of the biggest challenges currently facing humankind.
International climate policy strives to develop approaches that enable governments to systematically take account of climate change in their planning processes and budgets. These range from strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to strategies for adaptation to the inevitable consequences of climate change.
As part of the negotiations within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the international community pledged to mobilise 100 billion US dollars per annum for climate change mitigation and adaptation measures by 2020. Key initiatives on climate change mitigation and climate finance were launched at the G7 and G20 meetings, with the German Government acting as a driving force. The adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015 marked an important milestone, the key element of which is the concept of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to climate change mitigation.
OBJECTIVE
Effective approaches to facilitate the transition to zero-carbon, climate-resilient development and the implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are widely used in development cooperation, in line with the objectives and regulations of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
APPROACH
The project is transnational in character and operates at the interface between international climate policy and national development processes in partner countries of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It makes use of strategic networks and partnerships to develop innovative and practice-driven approaches and to pilot these in selected partner countries. It also supports BMZ in performing its climate policy tasks. The project covers four fields of activity:
1. Advising BMZ. BMZ is advised on a number of topics including the implementation of the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in the areas of climate change mitigation, adaption and finance. The advisory services also cover international climate finance and the mainstreaming of relevant issues in multilateral development banks. Support for BMZ is especially important in the context of UNFCCC negotiations.
2. Public relations work. The contributions of German development cooperation to harmonising the international climate agenda and national development processes are made accessible to international partners and the expert community.
3. Country activities and global initiatives. Innovative approaches are developed to promote the harmonising of the climate agenda and national development processes. These are piloted in selected countries and via transnational platforms. Particular emphasis is placed on supporting BMZ’s NDC partnership, National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes and the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI).
4. Future issues and partnerships. The project works with national and international actors in the academic and research sectors (think tanks) to develop future-oriented issues of relevance to BMZ’s climate work.
RESULTS
BMZ’s role in international climate policy has been strengthened.
At the United Nations Lima Climate Change Conference in 2014, a NAP Global Network was established by Germany, the United States, Peru and Japan; the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Jamaica and Togo are also members. The network aims to support developing and emerging economies in taking a systematic and forward-looking approach to aligning their policy planning to the challenges of climate change. In cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, 20 trainers have completed the NAP training developed for policy decision-makers from partner countries. The project provides country-specific NAP advice in conjunction with bilateral development cooperation projects in countries such as Albania, Togo and Tanzania.
Following the ground-breaking Paris Agreement of 2015, Germany and numerous other partners established a global NDC Partnership at the Marrakech Climate Change Conference in 2016. It is intended to aid the implementation of the Paris Agreement and aims to support poorer countries in their efforts to standardise their climate and development objectives pursuant to the NDCs, translate these into suitable measures, and achieve these objectives with support from donor programmes.
Other initiatives in which BMZ is involved or plays a leading role – such as the African Renewable Energy Initiative and InsuResilience – are now also prominently positioned at the international level and support the realisation of the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change.