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...

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 –...

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...

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...

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...

This project analyses best practice policies across Europe and how far extending them to all EU member states could support EU Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and energy targets. Key messages: The study finds that the EU can go much further than its current commitments in terms of GHG reductions: it has the potential to reach -55% to -62% below 1990 by 2030, consistent with the Paris commitment of staying “well below 2°C, pursuing 1.5°C”. The key to realize these reductions is to apply EU-wide the best practice policies identified in various Member States including The Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Germany...

The Climate Action Tracker has updated our assessments of 23 of the 32 countries whose development on climate action we track. While some progress has been made since November, most governments’ policies are still not on track towards meeting their Paris Agreement commitments, many of which are in themselves far from sufficient to keep warming to the agreed 1.5˚C warming limit. Our assessments point to an urgent need for governments to scale up both their policies and targets to bring them more in line with a pathway to limiting warming to 1.5˚C. Summary of progress across countries: Renewable...

The Project for Advancing Climate Transparency (PACT) consortium supports the design and development of robust and effective transparency and accountability rules and processes for the Paris Agreement on climate change. This working paper explores the global stocktake created by the Paris Agreement and the design of the modalities, procedures, and guidelines that will govern the implementation of the global stocktake. Highlights: The global stocktake established under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement is a process for taking stock of collective progress toward achieving the purpose of the...

NewClimate Institute, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and IIASA present an overview of on climate and energy policies in 25 major emitting countries and regions that have been adopted since July 2017. The policy information compiled by in this document supplements the earlier 2017 update report on the projected greenhouse gas emissions under currently implemented policies and mitigation commitments in 25 countries and regions. Not only the qualitative descriptions of policies but also their possible implications on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions projections in 2030 are provided...

The Climate Action Tracker (CAT) with this paper is pleased to have the opportunity to provide input to the Talanoa Dialogue. Climate Action Tracker assesses countries’ mitigation targets and actions and aggregates them at the global level. This submission focuses on global results, country level information is available on climateactiontracker.org . Summary: "Where are we" compared to "where do we want to go"? The majority of NDCs assessed by the CAT are not in line with a fair contribution to meet the Paris Agreement’s long-term warming limit. Global GHG emissions need to peak around 2020 to...

The outputs from research activities that NewClimate Institute undertook with various partners, are presented as inputs to the Talanoa Dialogue, organised along the themes mitigation and finance/support and along the main questions of the dialogue: “Where are we?”, “Where do we need to be?” and “How do we get there?”.

This article identifies and quantifies the 10 most important benchmarks for climate action to be taken by 2020 – 2025 to keep the window open for a 1.5°C-consistent GHG emission pathway. Abstract We conducted a comprehensive review of existing emissions scenarios, scanned all sectors and the respective necessary transitions, and distilled the most important short-term benchmarks for action in line with the long-term perspective of the required global low-carbon transition. Owing to the limited carbon budget, combined with the inertia of existing systems, global energy economic models find only...

Developed by NewClimate Institute, Germanwatch and CAN , the index ties in with the global Climate Change Performance Index by Germanwatch, a rating of the 58 largest emitters of GHG emissions globally that has been published annually since 2006. Description Recognizing the urgency to take immediate action in protecting the global climate, the 21st Conference of the Parties, held in December 2015 in Paris, made a groundbreaking achievement in adopting the goal to limit global warming to “well below” 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. Under the Paris Agreement, for the first...

In the lead-up to the Paris Agreement, every country was invited to submit an intended nationally determined contribution (INDC), and indicate how it is fair. We analyse how countries have explained the equity of mitigation and adaptation in 163 INDCs, providing a bottom-up analysis of equity to complement a literature that has focused on top-down allocations. While no single indicator of equity was used by all INDCs, a menu of quantified indicators or tiered approaches could provide bounded flexibility across different national circumstances. The most common equity indicator used in...