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The Allianz Climate and Energy Monitor ranks G20 member states on their attractiveness as potential destinations for investment in low-carbon electricity infrastructure. It takes into account their current and future investment needs in line with a 2° C global warming trajectory. Consistency with the Paris Agreement, negotiated by 195 countries at the end of 2015, would require a full decarbonization of the global economy before the end of the century. This transformation will be particularly challenging for the energy sector – the largest source of carbon emissions. Every existing and new...

Publication in Local Environment Assessing the concept's cultural legitimacy among stakeholders in the solar energy sector While energy-sector emissions remain the biggest source of climate change, many least-developed countries still invest in fossil-fuel development paths. These countries generally have high levels of fossil-fuel technology lock-in and low capacities to change, making the shift to sustainable energy difficult. Tanzania, a telling example, is projected to triple fossil-fuel power production in the next decade. This article assesses the potential to use internationally...

This paper outlines what the Paris Agreement means for Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and what needs to happen at the country level now and in the longer term to implement the Agreement. The paper focuses explicitly on the mitigation part of national contributions and discusses specific steps in response to the relevant parts of the agreed framework including a view on how these may be supported internationally.

This document presents a synthesis of the main challenges and lessons learned from the preparation process of intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) by Parties to the UNFCCC in the run up to Paris. The challenges and lessons learned from the INDC preparation process hold great relevance for the next steps regarding the implementation and further development of countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs), in terms of both clarity and ambition. The report is based on the research NewClimate Institute (NCI) has conducted during the INDC preparation process, including two...

Of the 156 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted to the UNFCCC by the closure of COP 21 and the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, at least 78% of these INDCs included conditions. In most cases Parties submitted a conditional contribution alongside an unconditional contribution,but approximately one third of INDCs include only a conditional contribution. This briefing paper by NewClimate Institute concisely presents the key information and aspects on the conditionality of countries‘ mitigation contributions in their INDCs. It gives an overview of the...

The long-term global climate goals of the Paris Agreement adopted by nearly 200 countries in December 2015, imply enhanced efforts for greenhouse gas emissions reductions in Germany. The phrasing of the long term goals of the Paris Agreement goes beyond prior political consensus. The objective is to limit the global increase in temperature to “well below 2°C” above pre-industrial levels, “pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”, as well as to lower the net GHG emissions to zero in the second half of the century. The aim of this brief analysis is to translate the goals of the...

The inaugural report of the 1 Gigaton Coalition, entitled Narrowing the Emissions Gap: Contributions from renewable energy and energy efficiency activities, is now available, and details the emissions saved after analysing nearly 6,000 renewable energy and energy efficiency activities in developing countries. They show the potential for further emissions reductions if programmes and initiatives are supported further to replicate successful projects more widely. The report is based on the current level of activities in renewable energy and energy efficiency in the energy sector. However, after...

The Global Good Practice Analysis is a joint initiative by the International Partnership on Mitigation and MRV and the UNDP Low Emission Capacity Building Programme and documents examples of mitigation-related good practice worldwide which demonstrate how INDCs, LEDS, NAMAs and MRV systems are being effectively designed and implemented across a range of national contexts. In the second edition of the Global Good Practice Analysis (GPA2.0) a new selection of cases was examined by a consortium led by NewClimate Institute and including the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), The...

The transition from fossil fuels to cleaner, safer energy technologies is under way. To pinpoint where decarbonization is happening most rapidly—and to extract lessons and best practices that can be applied to other areas of the global economy where progress is needed in the fight against climate change—this study by ClimateWorks, NewClimate Institute, Ecofys, and Climate Analytics compares past projections with actual developments in renewable energy, coal consumption, and passenger vehicles. Key findings include: Decarbonization of the power sector is happening faster than predicted. Reduced...

This sixth UNEP Emissions Gap Report provides a scientific assessment of the mitigation contributions from the submitted INDCs. As in the previous reports, it then compares the resulting emission levels in 2030 with what science tells us is required to be on track towards the agreed target of a global average temperature increase below 2°C by 2100. The Report also provides data for the aspirational target of keeping the temperature increase below 1.5°C. In addition, the Report presents selected areas where enhanced action can be taken, accelerated and scaled up to close the emissions gap. The...

The international community is negotiating a new global climate agreement to be applicable from 2020 onwards. Parties aim at signing the agreement in December 2015, at the Conference of Parties (COP) in Paris. Until then, countries are already preparing proposals for their individual contributions, their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). The INDCs will, besides other elements, include mitigation contributions as central elements. Negotiations under the ADP have advanced and more concrete discussions are taking place, with the objective to finalise the new climate agreement...

This paper provides an overview of options to assess mitigation commitments before Paris and beyond. This includes a review of current activities to assess individual INDCs as well as a discussion of some of the attributes and requirements such assessment needs to fulfil. The paper goes on to explore options of how the assessment could be carried out and linked to the UNFCCC process, followed by a discussion of methodological approaches to assess the ambition of mitigation contributions. In conclusion, it provides some recommendations on a feasible and realistic way forward drawing out...

This study compared recommendations for good practice climate change mitigation policies from various institutions with the current status of application of these policies by countries. In an initial attempt, a broad set of climate mitigation-related policies covering all sectors were analysed for the 30 major emitting countries that comprise 82% of global GHG emissions. The database that is the basis for this report is available at www.climatepolicydatabase.org .

The preparation for the new international climate agreement has advanced national policy making even before the agreement is adopted. NewClimate Institute in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), assessed the extent to which the preparation of intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) has catalysed enhanced national climate change mitigation capacity and action, beyond the preparation of the INDC itself. The survey and...

This report studies the development of criteria for assessing the compatibility of financial investments with the international goal to limit global temperature increase to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The findings are intended as a starting point and a key input for a longer term process to develop consensus-based 2°C investing criteria. The focus here is placed on investments in projects and physical assets, in particular of development and climate finance organisations. In order to limit global temperature increase to 2°C, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will have to be...