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The G20 transition to a low-carbon economy This report assesses how far the G20 countries have progressed in their transition from a “brown” economy based on fossil fuels to a “green” low-carbon and climate resilient economy. Executive summary: The emissions gap: Collectively, the G20 needs roughly to halve emissions in 2030 to meet the Paris goals, but adequate long-term strategies to do so are still lacking. Currently, nationally determined contributions (NDCs) would lead to a global temperature increase of around 3.2°C. None of the G20 NDC targets for 2030 is in line with the Paris...

The S DG C limate A ction N exus tool ( SCAN-tool ) is designed to provide high-level guidance on how mitigation actions can impact achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It can support policy makers to achieve greater policy coherence and to improve the efficiency of implementation by providing them with an initial indication of which climate actions may impact -positively or negatively- specific SDG targets. The SCAN-tool can also potentially inform the process of putting forward increasingly ambitious pledges of climate action, required every five years under the ambition...

Download report The study analyses the country background, emissions trends, ongoing activities and barriers relating to the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of Colombia under the UNFCCC . A special emphasis is laid on further mitigation potentials in the fields of renewable energy production from wind and solar PV, social housing, forest conservation in existing illicit crop substitution programmes and cattle. A chapter is dedicated to coal export and use. All reports in this series: Colombia – Ethiopia – Georgia – Indonesia – Islamic Republic of Iran – Kenya –...

The study analyses the country background, emissions trends, ongoing activities and barriers relating to the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of the Republic of Marshall Islands under the UNFCCC . A special emphasis is laid on further mitigation potentials in the fields of transport – especially low-carbon domestic shipping – and waste reduction, disposal and processing. All reports in this series: Colombia – Ethiopia – Georgia – Indonesia – Islamic Republic of Iran – Kenya – Morocco – Peru – Republic of Marshall Islands – Viet Nam

The study analyses the country background, emissions trends, ongoing activities and barriers relating to the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of Kenya under the UNFCCC . A special emphasis is laid on further mitigation potentials in the fields of reforestation, afforestation and decreasing deforestation as well as efficient biomass and renewable energy cookstoves and renewable energy. A chapter is dedicated to the relevance and perspectives of coal use. All reports in this series: Colombia – Ethiopia – Georgia – Indonesia – Islamic Republic of Iran – Kenya –...

Parties will take important decisions about the future of the Adaptation Fund at COP 24 in Katowice, Poland. This paper provides recommendations for those negotiations specifically regarding the Fund’s operating modalities including future mobilisation of sources of finance; safeguards; and governance. NewClimate Institute contributed to this Germanwatch publication. Key Conclusions As the climate warms, mobilising and effectively disbursing climate adaptation finance becomes ever more important to reduce vulnerability and increase climate resilience. The Adaptation Fund, with over 10 years of...

This working paper assesses how Multilateral Development Banks can support the global temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. It illustrates how the banks could strengthen existing tools to align their portfolios and activities with the globally agreed mitigation goal. Other finance institutions can also profit from many of the approaches included in the paper. The analysis starts with a review of scientific scenarios to understand what the temperature goal means for different investment areas. It also reviews existing tools and activities at the Multilateral Development Banks. Building on...

The refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) sector faces a particular challenge in the implementation of effective finance strategies given its cross-sectoral nature – extending from manufacturing of gases and appliances to energy end-use in buildings – and hence the different institutional responsibilities as well as policy and compliance regimes that affect the sector. Against this backdrop, this paper focusses on questions related to the financing of the low-carbon transition of the RAC sector. The objective of the paper is to provide an overview of the current finance situation in the...

This discussion paper explores environmental risks from the inclusion of forest offset credits in the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 and CORSIA, and examines approaches to address such risks. A number of challenges surrounding environmental integrity notably baseline determination, additionality, permanence, and leakage are discussed as well as environmental and social safeguards in forest mitigation initiatives. Key findings: Preserving and enhancing forests is an essential part of global efforts to mitigate climate change. Currently, most finance for forest-related mitigation is provided...

This publication is a pre-release version of a chapter in the forthcoming UN Environment Emissions Gap Report 2018. It provides an assessment of the role and potential impact of mitigation actions by non-state and subnational actors such as cities, states, regions, companies, investors and foundations. Key findings: Many non-state actors are engaging in mitigation action, across sectors and regions: Non-state and subnational actors have the opportunity both to be part of implementing mitigation commitments made at national level and to go beyond current pledges and raise ambition. The number...

The Climate Opportunity report investigates the economic, social and environmental benefits for climate change mitigation action in cities. Enhanced policies and measures for residential building retrofits, bus networks and district-scale renewable energy can generate millions of jobs, save billions of dollars for households, and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths related to ambient air pollution worldwide. The analysis is based on the development of new methodologies, which provide local and national policymakers with a blueprint for how cities and nations can evaluate these impacts and...

Since the Paris Climate Agreement solidified an “all hands on deck” approach to climate change, cities, regions and businesses have become key contributors to mitigation, adaptation and finance efforts. These actors are pledging a range of actions, from directly reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions footprints, to building capacity for climate adaptation and resilience to providing private finance. This report is the most comprehensive assessment of these non-state actor commitments to reduce greenhouse gases to date. The report focuses on 9 high-emitting countries – Brazil, China, India...

With the December 2018 deadline to operationalize the Paris Agreement looming, climate negotiators are faced with the herculean task of pulling together volumes of draft notes and the disparate views of negotiating blocs into comprehensive implementing guidelines to be adopted later this year. A new paper from the Project for Advancing Climate Transparency provides both an overarching vision and practical suggestions for what should be included in the main pillars of the implementing guidelines of the Paris Agreement. Key findings: The world’s governments are working toward a December 2018...

Global climate change governance has changed substantially in the last decade, with a shift in focus from negotiating globally agreed greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets to nationally determined contributions, as enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This paper analyses trends in adoption of national climate legislation and strategies, GHG targets, and renewable and energy efficiency targets in almost all UNFCCC Parties, focusing on the period from 2007 to 2017. The uniqueness and added value of this paper reside in its broad sweep of countries, the more than decade-long coverage and the...

This article shows how a strengthening of existing plans by a global roll-out of successful, regional sector policies can ease the implementation challenge of reaching the Paris climate goals. The novel element of it is to integrate such detailed policy packages until 2030 into pathways that reach long-term targets until 2100 using an integrated assessment modelling framework. The study is only a first step in connecting the analysis of mitigation pathways towards the Paris climate goals with an assessment of the implementability of near to medium term (2020–2050) climate action that would be...