The goal of the Paris Agreement is to keep the global temperature increase to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. Parties to the Agreement have been invited to communicate their long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LT-LEDS) considering the common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances. Similarly, Parties are invited to update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) reflecting their increased ambition until 2030.
The two policy processes are important for understanding and prioritizing which short- and medium-term investments and measures can contribute to a country’s climate goals while enabling countries to reach their long-term goals. LT-LEDS introduce a long-term perspective to policy planning that allows to consider whether certain activities may create long term lock-in effects into fossil fuel infrastructure even if they promise short term emission reductions compared to the status quo. This has implications on how to allocate resources, including international climate finance, capacity building and technology transfer.

In 2021, countries are expected to increase ambition by updating their NDC targets, as they enter their first year of NDC implementation. Looking at this experience, it becomes clear that the conditionality of NDC targets is a crucial feature, in particular for international support through Article 6 carbon markets. However, how to apply conditionality is not clearly defined in the UNFCCC rulebook and a lack of conceptual clarity opens space for different applications in NDCs, with potential consequences for access to Article 6 cooperative approaches.

Workshop for Climate Innovation Series 27 May 2021, 9.30AM EDT / 1.30PM GMT / 3.30PM CET / 4.30PM EAT Recording of the session Summary The webinar presented the recently released carbon market profiles of the Eastern Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance. The Alliance member countries (Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and...