21 December 2015: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) DTU Partnership has released a publication aimed at helping national stakeholders in the nationally appropriate mitigation action (NAMA) prioritization process. Titled ‘Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action: Developing a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) Process for Prioritization of NAMAs,’ the publication presents MCDA as a tool to help policymakers rank or short-list NAMA options.

The publication describes the technical aspects of using MCDA to help decision makers understand the process. It also describes the necessary institutional arrangements, noting that the NAMA prioritization process should be country-owned and country-driven. According to the UNEP-DTU Partnership, MCDA combines criteria valued monetarily with other criteria, which do not have an easily assigned market value, allowing “the use of a full range of social, environmental, technical, economic, and financial criteria.”

The authors present the case of the Philippines as an example, illustrating how, in a country-specific context, MCDA can be applied, taking into account national sustainable development, climate and other development priorities. The publication’s six chapters cover: necessary background; a general description of the MCDA tool; the NAMA prioritization process; how to define the framework; prioritizing NAMAs; and overall conclusions. [UNEP DTU Press Release] [Publication: Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action: Developing a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) Process for Prioritization of NAMAs]