The New Climate Institute and GIZ released a guide with recommendations for policy makers on how to approach the development of long-term low-greenhouse gas emission development strategies.
The guide recommends that countries revise their LTSs every five years to coincide with their NDC revisions and that LTS development be guided by “three levels of comprehensiveness” based on country-specific circumstances and starting points.
The New Climate Institute, in partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), released a guide for policy makers with recommendations on how to approach developing a long-term low-greenhouse gas (GHG) emission development strategy.
The report acknowledges that to achieve the objective of the Paris Agreement on climate change to hold the increase in global average temperature to “well below” 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, scientific evidence shows that it will be necessary to reach net-zero GHG emissions globally by 2050. Article 4 of the Paris Agreement calls on Parties to detail how they will achieve this objective by formulating and communicating long-term low-GHG emission development strategies (LTS) and providing regular five-year updates to countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
However, the report notes, neither the Paris Agreement nor the “Katowice Rulebook” specify requirements for the scope and format of an LTS, nor do they provide requirements for updating the LTS. The New Climate Institute’s guide provides recommendations for policy makers on how to approach the development of an LTS based on three key concepts.
First, the guide recommends that the LTS undergo revision cycles every five years to coincide with a country’s NDC revisions. This will ensure that the country’s long-term vision and medium-term targets are aligned and that mitigation strategies are based on current science. The Marshall Islands, Ukraine, France, and the Czech Republic have declared their intention to review and revise their LTSs at least every five years, the report notes.
Second, to account for country-specific circumstances and starting points, the guide proposes that the development of an LTS be guided by “three levels of comprehensiveness”: base, intermediate, and detailed. The scope, depth, and robustness should be selected based on a nation’s access to the resources necessary to develop an LTS and can be enhanced in subsequent revision rounds.
Third, the guide recommends that policy makers consider eight key aspects when developing their LTSs: process; theoretical long-term scenario analysis; long-term GHG and non-GHG targets; sectoral coverage; linking the LTS to immediate steps and interim targets as outlined in the NDC; the mobilization of finance and technology; sustainable development and just transition; and outlook.
The guide was published under an International Climate Initiative (IKI) project, ‘Capacity Development for climate policy in the countries of South East, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, Phase III.’ [Publication: Making Long-Term Low GHG Emissions Development Strategies a Reality] [Publication Landing Page]
By Gabriel Gordon-Harper, Thematic Expert on Climate Change and Sustainable Energy