An event that convened during the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain, highlighted adaptation actions with mitigation co-benefits. Organized by Qatar’s Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) and titled, ‘Adaptation Actions with Mitigation Co-Benefits and Economic Diversification,’ participants discussed actions that provide mitigation co-benefits as well as modalities and procedures for assessing adaptation, for which there is currently a lack of consensus.
 
Axel Michaelowa, Founder, Perspective Climate Group, presented methodologies for assessing mitigation co-benefits, stating that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a useful starting point for developing such methodologies. Gareth Phillips, Manager, Climate Change and Environment Finance Division, African Development Bank (AfDB), presented the Bank’s Adaptation Benefit Mechanism for mobilizing public and private sector adaptation funding.
 
Abdulrahim Al Muftah, Qatar Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, discussed preparations for the FIFA 2022 World Cup, highlighting proposed sustainability and carbon neutrality measures. He said that the Global Carbon Trust is supporting World Cup preparations and operations to develop assessment standards to measure carbon reduction, implement carbon reduction projects, and issue carbon credits to offset emissions.
 
Participants also called attention to, among other issues: the Energy Savings and Performance Award launched to recognize stakeholders and contractors who implement energy-saving strategies in their various fields of operations at Hamad International Airport (HIA) in Qatar; the Energy Savings Awareness Initiative encouraging HIA staff members to conserve electricity; MME efforts to implement the first NDC report, in collaboration with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), which included sections on the Qatari climate situation and adaptation actions with mitigation co-benefits; and the role of insurance for adaptation in developing countries. 

The event took place on 6 December 2019. [IISD RS Coverage of the Side Event] [MME Website]

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IISD Reporting Services is providing coverage of selected side  events during the UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, which met through 13 December.