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This report elaborated by NewClimate Institute with support from Climate Action Network (CAN) and the Global Call for Climate Action (GCCA), investigates the co-benefits associated with countries' Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). This report first provides an overview of the general co-benefits that climate action may have and how they could be used to incentivise further ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. We then provide illustrative results for the cobenefits achieved by the INDCs of the U.S., China, the EU, Canada, Japan, India, South Africa and Chile, as well...

This report offers deliberations on what a “fair share” for emissions in 2025 and 2030 could be. It shows, for a selection of ten countries, how their respective INDCs perform if related to different fair share approaches and effort sharing models. These assessments also take into account national mitigation potential and costs and the wider context of socio-­‐economic devel-­‐opment of the countries. Finally, current policies and politics of each country are included in the assessments. Authors: Andrzej Ancygier, Jasmin Cantzler, Hanna Fekete, Markus Hagemann, Niklas Höhne, Daniel Kandy...

Many “non -state actors” - e.g. regions, cities, companies and whole sectors - have committed to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These activities become increasingly important next to nationally driven actions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The exact impact of these efforts on current and future emissions is unknown and under-researched. Mitigation activities of regions, cities and companies that are independent of national action are currently not comprehensively reflected in the projection of greenhouse gas emissions of Germany, which...

Achieving the collective goal of limiting warming to below 2 °C or 1.5 °C compared to pre-industrial levels requires a transition towards a fully decarbonized world. Annual greenhouse gas emissions on such a path in 2025 or 2030 can be allocated to individual countries using a variety of allocation schemes. We reanalyse the IPCC literature allocation database and provide country-level details for three approaches. At this stage, however, it seems utopian to assume that the international community will agree on a single allocation scheme. Here, we investigate an approach that involves a major...

This presentation report was prepared by NewClimate Institute on behalf of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Development Project (UNDP), under the project Experiences and lessons learned in the preparation of INDCs. The report documents the challenges that countries have faced in their INDC preparation process, and lessons learned for overcoming them. Usage rights: Unlimited re-use of this presentation report for all purposes is allowed only in its current format, without changes made to content or design. Usage of information in this...

Corporate climate action is increasingly considered important in driving the transition towards a low-carbon economy. For this, it is critical to ensure translation of global goals to greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets at company level. At the moment, however, there is a lack of clear methods to derive consistent corporate target setting that keeps cumulative corporate GHG emissions within a specific carbon budget (for example, 550–1,300 GtCO2 between 2011 and 2050 for the 2°C target) . Here the authors propose a method for corporate emissions target setting that derives carbon...

Implementing good practice policies could hold warming close to 2°C The report The impact of good practice policies on regional and global greenhouse gas emissions by NewClimate Institute, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis looks at the impact of “good practice” emission reduction policies in nine different areas globally and across six countries: China, Brazil, India, the US, Russia and Japan. These include renewable energy, a variety of energy efficiency standards (buildings, car fuel efficiency, appliances and...

As Ministers and negotiators prepare for the next round of diplomatic meetings to thrash out a universal agreement tackling climate change and its impacts, Track 0’s Founder and CEO Farhana Yamin and two of Track 0’s advisors, Erik Haites and Niklas Höhne, have compiled a Paris Agreement which offers one possible way in which the 90 pages of unwieldy text can be whittled down to produce an ambitious, yet politically balanced and comprehensive agreement. The Track 0 proposal uses only the textual proposals generated by Parties set out in the Geneva Negotiating Text released in February 2015...

The German government, through the German Federal Environment Agency, commissioned a consortium consisting of NewClimate Institute, Germanwatch, and the 2° Investing Initiative to explore criteria to measure the alignment of investment and financing with the 2°C limit. The project focuses in particular on development finance institutions. This report was prepared in the context of the G7 summit meeting. It maps existing 2°C relevant criteria used by financial institutions and discusses what 2°C criteria might look like for key investment areas.

This discussion paper provides an overview of the development of the international carbon market mechanisms and emerging domestic carbon pricing systems, and lays out three distinct but potentially complementary options for market mechanisms in a future climate change agreement. Options for narrowing the emissions gap before 2020 using market mechanisms are also explored. Recommendations for short term action for the G7 countries are given.

This report elaborated by PBL, NewClimate Institute, IIASA and Ecofys provides an overview of projected greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of seven major emitting countries (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and the United States) out to 2030, taking into account the emissions trajectories based on current and selected enhanced policies. Earlier studies have explored the extent to which major economies are on track to achieve their 2020 pledges under the Cancun Agreements. This report extends these analyses for seven selected countries in several ways. First, the effect of planned...

Niklas Höhne and Hanna Fekete are authors of this year’s UNEP Emissions Gap Report. It informs governments and the wider community on how far the response to climate change has progressed over the past 12 months, and thus how far the world is currently positioned to meet the internationally agreed 2˚C limit to global warming. The fifth Emissions Gap Report goes beyond an analysis of scientific reality and the current level of ambition of nations by proposing concrete solutions on how the ambitions gap could be closed.

NewClimate Institute staff prepared the process guidance paper entitled ‘Process guidance for Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)’ for the International Partnership on Mitigation and MRV. This process guidance paper is based on early experiences of some countries and the international debate on INDCs and seeks to assist country governments in the preparation of their INDCs. The Conference of the Parties (COP 19) in Warsaw decided to “initiate or intensify domestic preparations for their intended nationally determined contributions” so that they can be submitted well in advance...

The current project-based carbon market mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the Joint Implementation (JI) do not have a direct impact on global greenhouse gas emission levels, because they only replace or offset emissions. Nor do they contribute to host country׳s national greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Contributions to net emission reductions in host countries is likely to become mandatory in new mechanisms under development such as in the framework for various approaches, a new market-based mechanism and even in a reformed JI. This research analysed the...

This CDI Practice Paper addresses the role of tools in supporting interventions to achieve the ‘triple wins’ of adaptation, mitigation and development. Over recent years there has been a proliferation of guidance tools to support adaptation or mitigation, increasingly in a development context, but little work on the role tools play in helping to bridge the gap between these three areas in practice. Based on a review of tools in view of ‘climate compatible development’, the paper suggests key considerations for how tools could help achieve ‘triple wins’. They include: the importance of...