7 December 2015: The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has organized a workshop to train experts from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to develop programmes for climate-change mitigation. Approximately 40 participants from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine received training in building programmes to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to promote the uptake of clean technologies and other mitigation actions.

Workshop participants also considered project proposals of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) on issues discussed at previous workshops, including management of electronic waste, industrial energy efficiency, renewable energy, and ways to promote climate technology centers and networks.

The workshop was part of UNIDO’s project ‘Regional Capacity Building for Developing Programmes for the Mitigation of Global Environmental Problems,’ which aims to enhance technical capacities in CIS countries to implement multilateral environmental agreements (MEA) on climate change and other issues.

Funded by the Russian Federation and the GEF, UNIDO is convening a series of regional and national workshops to provide training for experts from ministries involved in GEF funded projects. [UNIDO Press Release] [IISD RS Story on October 2014 Workshop] [IISD RS Story on March 2014 Workshop]