News

Bogotá, 26^th September 2024

UNEP and its partner organisation Fedesarollo hosted a final validation workshop for the NDC Action project in Colombia. The session was opened by Sebastian Carranza, climate coordinator for UNEP in the LatAm region and chaired by Paola Herrera, regional coordinator for the NDC Action project. In attendance were key technical staff from the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the National Development Agency.

Last week, the NDC Action project validation workshop in Uganda brought together high-level stakeholders to discuss the implementation of Uganda’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Key presentations highlighted the integration of results of the NDC Action project, including innovative climate technologies, such as solar irrigation, picture-based insurance and e-cooking, as well as the development of a blended finance tool to support Uganda’s low-carbon development goals.

Through a pilot project for climate-resilient housing in Bangladesh's coastal zone, the NDC Action Project and BRAC is showcasing a new way to tackle the challenges posed by the climate crisis in Mongla Upazila in the Western part of Bangladesh.

A training session aimed at empowering champion farmers with smartphone technology concluded successfully during the week of April 22nd to 26th. The training, which saw a robust attendance of 213 participants, focused on teaching farmers how to use the Picture Based Insurance (PBI) application on their smartphones. This initiative is part of a broader effort to raise awareness among farmers about the benefits of insurance, particularly against climate risks.

New series of training courses on preparation of concept notes for financial institutions for NDC financing covering three global regions underway.

More than 250 people joined a recent UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre training course on NDC finance and proposal development tailored to bolster the capabilities of National Technical Institutions and governments across Latin America.

The NDC Action project in Ghana through its National Technical Institution, the Regional Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (RCEES), hosted by the University for Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), kicked off a two-week technical and financial training on Solar Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS) for key stakeholders including smallholder farmers from Monday 12^th- Wednesday 21^st February 2024.

With its enduring commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement, Morocco has played a pivotal role in the formation and expansion of the NDC Partnership. Dating back to 2016 at COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco, alongside Germany, spearheaded the establishment of the NDC Partnership—an international and neutral coalition dedicated to assisting countries in fulfilling their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) outlined in the Paris Agreement.

The NDC Action Costa Rica project has successfully crafted the inaugural Methodology for developing roadmaps aimed at fostering the adaptation and decarbonization of organizations. This framework emphasizes the interconnections between adaptation and decarbonization, advocating for actions that mitigate vulnerability to the current and future impacts of climate change within Costa Rica and its various productive sectors.

During COP 28, Morocco launched its National Low Carbon Strategy 2050, also referred to as Morocco's "quantitative" LT-LEDS, with the aim of achieving a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.

From NDC to the National Low Carbon Strategy 2050

Presentation made by Ms. Rym Belhaj during the UNEP side event at COP 28 - Catalyzing NDC Investment: From Ambition to Action

The NDC Action Project, in collaboration with the Government of Uganda, Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise Ltd.  (ACRE) Africa, Agro Consortium (U) Limited (AIC), the Banana Industrial Research and Development Centre (BIRDC) hosted a side event at COP28 focused on innovative insurance products tailored for smallholder banana farmers.

The Banana Industrial Research Development Centre (BIRDC), Agro Consortium, and Acre Africa jointly unveiled a Hybrid Index Insurance Solution in Uganda, made possible through the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator. This one-year pilot initiative is an outcome of the NDC Action project and aims to enhance resilience and facilitate climate change adaptation for smallholder farmers in the Bushenyi and Sheema districts.

UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre co-hosted a hybrid international workshop in Kampala, Uganda, alongside Last Mile Climate on the 8 November 2023.

The all-day session was opened by Hon. Beatrice Atim Anywar, Minister of State for Environment for Uganda and attended by more than 150 people; half in-person and half virtually.

The workshop highlighted trailblazing initiatives on transitioning households to solar e-cooking, transforming waste into green jobs, and reforestation projects through innovative financing.

Climate change training for government employees

During the months of August and September, an online training program on climate policies was delivered with @eco.house and @sustentibilidad_sin_fronteras, thanks to funding from the NDC Action project in Argentina. Through these local partners, adaptation and mitigation issues were worked on together with more than 200 civil servants and technicians from federal government.
 

In the context of Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW), the UNEP Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) brought together representatives of the NDC Action Project from Costa Rica, Colombia and Argentina to share experiences, successes and challenges in the implementation of projects in their respective countries during an event held in Panama City on October 26, 27 and 28, 2023.

Cartagena, Colombia

Within the framework of the 1^st Hydrogen and Energy Efficiency Congress developed by the National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI) the local NDC Action project team contributed to a discussion on the barriers and opportunities to help achieve the country’s NDC through accelerated action on industrial energy efficiency.

The Agreement for Climate Action is a platform for exchange and continuous training to articulate initiatives between the public and private sectors, in support of Argentina's climate commitments.

Federal Law No. 27,520 on Minimum Budgets for Adaptation and Mitigation to Global Climate Change establishes (Article 20) that the provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires must develop Climate Change Response Plans, developed through participatory processes. These plans must develop a technical baseline and assessment, to identify priority area of action in terms of both mitigation and adaptation, as well as specific and measurable goals.

UNEP and its partner organizations, UNEP-CCC and BASE, embarked on a mission to Ghana from 22nd to 26th of May 2023 as part of the NDC Action project. The goal of the mission was to carry out stakeholder consultation sessions, hold bilateral meetings with stakeholders to gather relevant information, and raise interest to engage them in the program going forward.

The Uganda Banana Industrial Research and Development Centre (BIRDC) has won a funding from the Adaptation Fund-UNDP Innovation Small Grant Aggregator Platform (ISGAP) under Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator to lead a consortium comprising of the Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise Ltd.  (ACRE) Africa and Agro Consortium Uganda Limited (AIC). The aim is to implement a project on “Innovative Hybrid Index Insurance Solution to Mitigate Climate Risks for Smallholder Banana Farmers in Uganda”.

Ulaanbaatar, 18 April 2023

To obtain valuable feedback from relevant parties, a stakeholder consultation was held on the Concept Note prepared by the Trade Development Bank of Mongolia's Climate 30+ Initiative: Green Recovery Program for Mongolian Corporates, with a focus on investment in energy efficiency measure in the industrial sector.

In March 2023, the NDC Action project team travelled to Bangladesh to attend the first Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting and a field trip organized by the technical partner Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC).

Amman,12 March 2023 – The National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) conducted, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, a technical training on climate change adaptation, as part of the NDC Action Project’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of national stakeholders.

The two-day capacity-building training was held on 12 and 13 March at the Royal Scientific Society (RSS), the National Technical Institution of the NDC action Project, with support from the United Nations Environment programme (UNEP) and the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Center.

A joint meeting was held, under the auspices of the The NDC Action Project, to discuss a concept note for climate resilient agriculture, specifically the implementation of a solar-powered drip irrigation system for arable farming.

The group consisted of various stakeholders, including donor organizations, development partners, international and local financial institutions, sectoral experts, researchers, and community representatives.

Amman, January 29, 2023 - The Ministry of Environment, the Royal Scientific Society (RSS), with the support of the UN Environment programme and the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Center under the NDC-Action Project organized the first technical training entitled” obligations under UNFCCC and Paris agreement” in Amman from 29-31 January.