During the afternoon of the first day, five parallel sessions opened the floor for discussing and exploring opportunities for a Just Transition in climate action and NDCs, decarbonizing the energy sector through net zero pathways, accelerating adaptation by leveraging NAPs, NDCs, and NBSAP, long term strategies and advancing from reporting to action with the role of BTRs in enhancing NDC implementation.
Driving climate justice: Opportunities for a just transition in NDCs
The first session focused on the topic of Just Transition, emphasizing that it affects different groups in unique ways. The session recognized that responses therefore need to be tailored to diverse needs to create truly sustainable livelihoods. This can be done for instance by mobilising a whole-of-government society approach and stakeholder engagement processes from the very beginning–aiming at getting most of the population onboard. Most NDCs have not yet used the potential of the Just Transition and are not youth-sensitive, but Just Transition Roadmaps and guidance’s have been developed.
Sectoral decarbonisation as a crucial foundation for achieving net-zero emissions and for sustainable development
Another crucial topic of the afternoon was sectoral decarbonisation, with a special focus on the energy sector. The first Global Stocktake has highlighted the importance of energy goals in NDCs. While investments in renewable sources are growing, they remain unevenly distributed. Speakers stressed the need to overcome investment barriers by reducing the cost of capital and de-risking investments.
Discussions explored setting definite targets for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and fossil fuel transition in NDCs, supported by effective governance and policy frameworks to raise national ambition. Furthermore, strategies were identified to accelerate implementation and scale up investment. The energy transition, essential for decarbonizing other sectors like transport and industry, requires massive expansion in clean energy capacity while reducing emissions to zero by phasing out fossil fuels. Ultimately, transforming the energy sector is thus the foundation of sustainable economic development.
The session industry decarbonisation focused on exploring how countries integrate industrial targets into their NDCs and discussing the current state of technical and financial assistance for innovative solutions and accelerating industrial transformations. While the investment gap for decarbonising the industry sector remains significant, countries are increasingly including industry in their NDCs and support structures are emerging, such as the Global Matchmaking Platform and the creation of tools and enabling environments (like setting common standards).
Bridging policies, aligning long-term and near-term strategies, and keeping track on progress
One of the afternoon sessions delved into the topic of integrated planning to align important policies and improve adaptation outcomes. The session organizers, UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Secretariat of the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAP), focused on bridging and implementing three different frameworks: The Nationally Determined Contributions, the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). Additionally, they explored opportunities to leverage finance for climate resilience and biodiversity protection. The timeline was identified as one of the key challenges in reporting and planning. The synergies between climate, biodiversity and agrifood systems should be considered from the start when developing NAPs, NDCs and NBSAPs. Experiences from countries (i.e. the Philippines) showcased important success factors, such as the institutionalization of technical knowledge in a technical expert group and continuous institutionalised data collection. A marketplace at the end of the session gave participants the opportunity to engage.
Aligning NDCs with Long-term strategies (LTS) was the focus of another thematic session. As countries update their NDCs, which define near-term action, and advance their long-term Low-Emission Development Strategies (LT-LEDS), it is important to ensure coherence between both policies. Countries are increasingly aligning LT-LEDS with NDCs, linking climate and development goals, and improving coordination between planning and finance. The country insights shared at the session highlighted that dual-track planning processes can bring the needed clarity, coherence and country ownership. The best practices showcased strategies to effectively link the long-term goals with actionable, near-term strategies.
The Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) are key to keep track on a country’s progress with the implementation of the Paris Agreement, yet uncertainty remains about the reporting process itself. Therefore, one of the afternoon sessions aimed to clarify the BRT process. During the session, it was highlighted that BTRs bring various national benefits, are a tool for more realistic NDCs and can inform NDC investment plans and identify specific sectors and areas with financing gaps. The participants discussed best practices for developing, implementing, tracking, and enhancing BTRs as well as for aligning them with NDCs and financing strategies, and other implementation instruments. The session concluded that it is crucial to have a more integrated, collaborative and systemic framework in place to gather data. Investing in national MRV Systems and institutionalizing the process is of utmost importance to create continuity and more country ownership.
