National Platform for NDC Implementation. Concept idea by the NDC Support Cluster

Transcription

1 National Platform for NDC Implementation Concept idea by the NDC Support Cluster

2 Challenges Countries face several challenges as they prepare for NDC implementation. Many of these challenges are governance-related and can be linked to: leadership and vision to advance the climate agenda in a country; coordination and alignment of activities and resources of the stakeholders involved; exchange of information among the relevant actors; and securing continuity in interest and action. NDC implementation requires strong multi-level governance (at the national, regional, and local levels). As the preamble of the Paris Agreement recognises, the engagement of all levels of government in addressing climate change is pivotal to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels and increasing the ability of countries to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience. The enormity of this challenge can only be met if national, regional, and local governments achieve policy and action alignment in addressing climate change. In many cases, countries lack leadership at the highest level of government to steer NDC implementation. A common vision, backed by political leadership, is needed to first prioritize and then mainstream climate change into the national agenda. In addition, various stakeholders are still unclear on the roles and responsibilities they have in taking action on climate change. Moreover, without institutionalized coordination, there is a high risk of duplication of efforts, resulting in inefficient use of resources (financial and technical, as well as human). There is also a lack of mechanisms for stakeholders to share data and experiences they have gathered on climate change issues and actions. Finally, it is unclear how to keep climate change prioritized on the national agenda. An institutionalized national platform for NDC implementation can mitigate these challenges. The approach The platform brings together in one forum stakeholders from all levels of government (from national to local level), the private sector, and civil society. Led by the country s head of government, the platform is responsible for developing and maintaining a common vision for NDC implementation and for mediating any conflicts of interest. It ensures a common understanding of the differentiated roles, responsibilities, and capabilities of the stakeholders in contributing to the NDC. Technical sector working groups are formed to develop sectoral climate actions that contribute to NDC goals. Results of the platform are commonly agreed with statements and agreements that are communicated and accessible. They then form the basis for actual implementation of climate action in the form of legislation, projects, programs, and, above all, changes to budget allocations at the national (finance ministry) and sub-national level (regional and local governments) backed by the vision and mandates of the highest level of government. Main aspects The head of national government initiates the process, ensures the development of a common vision, and leads the platform. Only she/he or her/his office is in the position to assure that the topic stays high on the government s agenda. Only she/he can moderate the conflicts of interest of the various stakeholders, which will certainly come along with the transformations necessary for lowcarbon development, and ensure stakeholders buy-in. For instance, reforms in one sector (e.g. 2

3 energy, transport, agriculture) need to be accompanied by measures in other sectors in order to mitigate losses in employment or increase in costs borne by the public. The private sector and civil society working in various sectors are strongly represented through their associations and lobby groups. The platform allows the stakeholders to better coordinate and align their activities. In many cases, a climate action in one sector yields higher impacts when it goes hand in hand with activities in another sector. In addition to this horizontal coordination, the dialogue also ensures vertical coordination among different levels of government. governments need to be heard and integrated into the dialogue as the public officials in closest contact with citizens and most often responsible for implementing climate mitigation and adaptation measures at the local level. In some instances, there are already transformative actions and good practices at the local level that are ready to be scaled-up to support NDC implementation. Moreover, at the local level, there are climate actions that can only be put into effect when facilitated by the right umbrella policy and accompanied by reforms at the local level (e.g., adaptation of local codes and directives). This approach can be backed up with the development of a virtual platform that allows: public access to information on NDC implementation; establishment of periodic thematic virtual forums, meetings or workshops that ensure the participation and involvement of all focal points; synchronization with accounting platforms for NDC tracking; and capacity development of the various stakeholders that contribute to NDC implementation. Mechanisms and accompanying processes Platform is institutionalized by national legalization; The main platform meets approx. twice a year, whereas the working groups come together more often; Processes are synchronized with accounting platforms for NDC tracking; Stakeholders needs are assessed and met by capacity-development measures; A virtual platform ensures public access to information; and Involvement of actors is continuously analysed and adapted. Success factors Leadership: Platform is led by the highest political level (e.g., head of government); Efficiency: It can be mainstreamed into processes or coordinating structures that already exist for climate change policy management (e.g., existing working groups); Transparency: Statements and agreements are regularly made public, and NDC progress tracking is open to all stakeholders and the public; Participation and outreach: Integration of intermediate levels of actors (e.g., local government associations, private sector associations, representatives of civil society organizations) ensures the engagement of all actors and the deployment of information on NDC implementation. 3

4 Visualization Head of gov. / (Prime Min.) Ministry Ministry Ministry Ministry COORD PLATFORM Working Group 1 Working Group n Dialogues Ministries Ministries Regions Regions level level Stakeholders Government/administration Head of state s office (president or prime minister) NDC focal points of ministries Technical experts of sectors Representatives of sub-national administrations (e.g., associations of municipalities, provinces/states) Leaders and frontrunners on NDC-related actions at the national, regional, and local levels) 4

5 sector/civil society Financial actors Business/industry associations Civil society and non-governmental organizations International experience/thought leaders: IKI NDC Support Cluster International organizations Champion countries Academia Good practices to build on Vietnam Urban Forum (UN Habitat) approaches on environmental management (Colombia and Mexico) Refer to SDGs & NDC (Bangladesh) V-LED Project in Philippines LEDS subnational W6 Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues for multilevel governance and holistic approaches of implementing the Paris Agreement and SDGs ( GreenClimateCities (GCC) methodology for mitigation and adaptation at local and regional levels ( carbonn Climate Registry (ccr) that captures ambitions climate actions by cities and regions ( Integrated MRV of local and regional climate actions for NDC implementation ( Urban low emissions development strategies in emerging and least developed economies ( Transformative Action Program for face-lifting access to climate finance by cities and regions ( final.pdf) Authors: Emily Castro (GIZ), Michael Comstock (UNDP), Catherine Diam-Valla (UNDP), Laids Mias-Cea (UN Habitat), Jisun Hwang (ICLEI). This concept idea has been developed in the framework of the Thematic Working Group on Governance of the NDC Support Cluster. 09 /