NAMA Update: Moldova Registers Twelve Actions for Support, Thailand Submits Unilateral NAMA

12 February 2018: This Update focuses on individual nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) by developing countries and related support, events and activities for the months of December 2017 and January 2018. After a quieter period, January saw several countries entering NAMAs seeking external support in the UNFCCC Registry, with Moldova alone accounting for twelve.

NAMA Update: More NAMAs Seeking Support for Preparation

On 1 February 2018, the UNFCCC NAMA Registry displayed a total of: 70 NAMAs seeking support for preparation (up by one from August 2017); 83 NAMAs seeking support for implementation (up by 13); 10 NAMAs for recognition (up by one); 18 entries on support for NAMAs; and 18 supported NAMAs (up by one). The UNFCCC registry facilitates the matching of means of implementation support with NAMAs seeking international support, and recognizes other actions, including unilateral NAMAs. [UNFCCC NAMA Registry]

Chile Seeks Support for Preparing Soil Organic Carbon NAMA

Chile registered a request of US$450,000 to extend support for a NAMA that would use soils to remove and permanently capture atmospheric carbon in the form of soil organic carbon (SOC). Initial work has been carried out over three years, but further support is needed to maintain pilot sites, enable further pilot studies and continue training of local experts in carbon sequestration research. [UNFCCC NAMA Registry Entry]

Also, the Lebanese Ministry of Environment reported that the government, in consultation with stakeholders, had selected private road transport and municipal solid waste as sectors for the development of two NAMAs. The country’s Council of Ministers endorsed the proposals in late 2017, and the actions will be submitted to the UNFCCC NAMA Registry. The process to select the sectors was part of the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Low Emissions Capacity Building (LECB) programme. [Lebanese Ministry of Environment NAMA Page]

Moldova Uploads Twelve NAMAs for Implementation Support

Moldova registered its first NAMAs seeking support for implementation in the UNFCCC Registry. A total of 12 proposed actions address emissions from electricity generation and use, transport, forests and land use. The NAMAs seek to, inter alia: promote heat pumps, wind power plants and the use of solar energy for water heating; introduce hybrid and electric buses in the city of Chisinau; substitute a cement production technology; and implement soil conservation systems. Based on data from the NAMA pipeline of the UN Environment Programme Partnership with the Technical University of Denmark (UNEP-DTU), the external support requested for these NAMAs totals US$2.08 billion and the accumulated greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction in 2030 would be 19.9 MtCO2e. [UNFCCC NAMA Registry] [UNEP UDP NAMA Pipeline Website]

Mexico, Honduras Seek Implementation Support for Mitigation in Forests, Livestock

Mexico, which has been active developing and implementing NAMAs, registered a request for support for sub-national mitigation actions for the restoration of degraded forests and the implementation of planned grazing. The actions are underpinned by state-level funding mechanisms based on emission offsets and the replication of successful planned grazing and forest restoration pilot projects. The NAMA, which requires US$12.7 million in external support, would result in an accumulated GHG reduction of 22.7 MtCO2e in 2030. [UNFCCC NAMA Registry Entry] [UNEP DTU NAMA Pipeline Website]

UNEP DTU also published a NAMA proposal for Honduras that aims to ensure growth in the country’s livestock sector while turning it into a carbon sink. Stakeholder consultations identified four relevant practices: implementation of silvopastoral systems, including rotation and division of pastures; implementation of biodigesters; production and application of organic fertilizers; and production and application of nutritional blocks. UNEP DTU estimates that implementing the NAMA for 75,000 producers would require a total of US$355 million by 2029, with net cumulative emissions reductions of 50.6 MtCO2e. [UNEP DTU Press Release and Publication]

Thailand Registers NAMAs for Support and Recognition, Receives Support for Refrigeration and Air Conditioning NAMA

Thailand registered a request for a low and middle-income housing NAMA that would apply a local green building standard to new housing projects in the country focusing on the design aspects of new residential buildings while seeking to lower the costs of green residential construction. The NAMA is requiring a total of US$13 million in international support and would result in cumulative emissions reductions of 304 KtCO2e. [UNFCCC NAMA Registry Entry]

Thailand also registered a unilateral NAMA, also known as a NAMA for recognition, in the housing sector, specifically in government buildings. The government estimates that government buildings accounted for 21% of the total energy use in buildings in 2015. At the moment, government policy plans do not take into account the energy efficiency potential of building green buildings or retrofitting existing ones, and incentives and performance measurement systems are lacking. The NAMA will support Thailand’s Pollution Control Department in implementing building standards and a certification scheme. It will also seek to incentivize private buildings to adopt green building standards through demonstrating leadership in the public sector. [UNFCCC NAMA Registry Entry]

Thailand’s Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) signed a grant agreement under the Thailand Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (RAC NAMA) project. The action is being funded by the NAMA Facility. The THB320 million (US$10.1 million) agreement concerns a ‘RAC NAMA Fund’, which will develop financial support mechanisms to promote natural refrigerant-based cooling technologies. It is estimated that, without mitigation, Thailand’s cooling sector could account for 50% of the country’s total GHG emissions by 2030, representing a significant rise of current levels, at 25%. [NAMA Facility Press Release]

Coffee NAMA Delivers Awards, Indonesia & Germany Advance Transport NAMA

In other NAMA news from December 2017 and January 2018:

The NAMA Facility reported that 49 coffee mills in Costa Rica received awards by the country’s president for participating in the Coffee NAMA in 2017 [NAMA Facility Press Release];
The NAMA Facility also reported that Indonesia and GIZ signed an agreement for the implementation of a NAMA Support Project for sustainable urban transport in Indonesia [NAMA Facility Press Release]; and
The Partnership on Transparency in the Paris Agreement reported on sessions held during the 2017 Asia Low Emission Development Strategies (LEDS) Partnership Forum in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, which included a presentation on a proposed NAMA monitoring reporting and verification (MRV) system for Viet Nam [Partnership on Transparency Press Release] [Presentation on NAMA MRV System for Viet Nam].

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NAMAs, first introduced in the UNFCCC Cancun Agreements, are actions that reduce GHG emissions relative to business-as-usual (BAU) emissions in 2020 in developing countries. They are prepared under the umbrella of a governmental initiative, aligned with the country’s national development goals, and supported by finance, technology and capacity building. NAMAs are becoming an increasingly important vehicle supporting the implementation of the Paris Agreement, with significant co-benefits for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development due to their alignment with national development strategies.