May 2018: The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) has published updated guidance to help countries assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction, sustainable development, and transformational change impacts of their policies and actions. The guidance, updated in May 2018, enables countries to determine which guidance and tools best suit their needs.
An introductory guide describes applicability of the guidance, outlining, inter alia: its purpose; intended users; relevance to the Paris Agreement on climate change; relationship to GHG inventories and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems; and alignment with the SDGs. It also provides an overview of the various guidance documents, and describes the ways in which they can be used to undertake impact assessments. Ten guidance documents address: GHG impacts in the renewable energy, buildings, transport, agriculture and forestry sectors; broader sustainable development and transformational impacts; and stakeholder participation, technical review, and non-state and subnational action.
The guidance is geared towards governments, donor agencies and financial institutions, businesses, research institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and stakeholders affected by policies and actions, such as indigenous peoples and local communities, and civil society organizations.
It aims to, inter alia: help users assess the impacts of policies and actions in an integrated manner; help decision makers develop strategies for achieving mitigation and broader sustainable development objectives, including the SDGs, by better comprehending the impacts of policies and actions; support consistent and transparent reporting of these impacts; and support both domestic and international reporting, including under the UNFCCC. The guidance documents also include recommendations, with suggested approaches, models, tools, references, options and information to help implement them. [ICAT May 2018 Guidance Announcement] [ICAT Guidance Landing Page] [Introductory Guide]
ICAT helps countries assess the impacts of their climate actions, and supports greater transparency, effectiveness, trust and ambition in climate policies.
The Sustainable Development Guidance, in particular, identifies and promotes policies and actions that address priorities across environmental, social and economic dimensions. Informed by and compatible with the SDGs, it aims to help users assess the impact of policies and actions in relation to the SDGs, describes sustainable development impact categories that are consistent with the SDGs, and helps monitor progress towards the Goals. The guidance can also be used to, inter alia, integrate climate policy into broader national development policy, and track and report on progress towards achieving Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). It explains that impacts that are most relevant to decision making relate to, inter alia, air quality, job creation, improved health, access to energy, poverty reduction, ecosystem protection and gender equality. [Sustainable Development Guidance]
ICAT helps countries assess the impacts of their climate actions; supports greater transparency, effectiveness, trust and ambition in climate policies; and integrates methodological guidance, capacity building, and sharing of knowledge and lessons learned. Launched to help improve transparency and capacity building under the Paris Agreement, including strengthening developing country capacity to assess climate action in the context of their NDCs, ICAT is currently working with 20 developing countries, and helps them report on progress.
Thus far, ICAT is working with: Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal and Tanzania in Africa; Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand in Asia; and Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
ICAT was founded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Italian Ministry of the Environment and the ClimateWorks Foundation, with an initial funding of US$16 million. The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) manages the trust fund. [Overview of ICAT] [ICAT Brochure]