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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...

This focus study presents evidence on the impacts of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This includes a quantitative assessment of the mitigation impact of the CDM that occurs as a side effect of the current depressed market conditions. This mitigation impact is unintended and undesirable, possible because under the current market conditions mitigation activities originally designed for generating emission reduction credits under the CDM continue to operate their mitigation equipment but discontinue issuing offsets. Using the data generated by the extensive survey of 1,310 CDM projects in...

A highly efficient use of energy is thus fundamental to limit GHG emissions. Yet, energy efficiency receives much less attention than the decarbonization of the energy supply. This study indicates that scenarios with higher energy efficiency mostly show lower abatement costs. This was the result of evaluating the large number of existing scenarios that comply with the internationally agreed 2°C target until 2050. The societal costs of decarbonization in these scenarios vary strongly and a detailed assessment of the potential cost reductions due to EE is lacking. In order to close this gap...

MitigationMomentum publication with contributions from Frauke Röser and Thomas Day. The paper is a joint effort from the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Ecofys, the Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research (CSPR), the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP), GIZ, NewClimate Institute, WRI and UNDP. Countries representing more than 90 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and population have submitted intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) in anticipation of the 21st COP in Paris. In parallel, developing countries are designing at least 152 nationally...

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...

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has become one of the world’s most important carbon market instruments, diffusing carbon price signals worldwide, stimulating major private investments in climate change mitigation projects, and supporting the development of mitigation action in developing countries. The situation of project activities, and domestic and international capacities related to the CDM, have noticeably deteriorated following the recent decline of the market conditions. However, a major information gap exists regarding the actual status of individual CDM projects worldwide, as...

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...

This study clarifies the definition of results-based financing (RBF) and in particular its role in the context of climate policy. The publication is aimed at readers from the carbon markets and climate finance communities alike. It facilitates a common understanding of what RBF as a financing modality involves and is therefore meant to also be a good starting point for readers looking into this topic for the first time. An overview of results-based finance options and opportunities for linking market and non-market approaches is provided. Combining carbon market and non-market climate finance...