The NDC Partnership is founded on the principle that effective cooperation can fast-track the achievement of results and enhance the collective impact of invested resources. Member countries who request support and drive in-country NDC implementation acquire access to a large network of partners that can deliver a flexible array of services geared towards implementation of NDCs, including technical assistance, financial support, and knowledge enhancement. The NDC Partnership is putting its Country Engagement Strategy in practice, and is delivering results in 22 member countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific in 2017.
The NDC Partnership is founded on the principle that effective cooperation can fast-track the achievement of results and enhance the collective impact of invested resources. Member countries who request support and drive in-country NDC implementation acquire access to a large network of partners that can deliver a flexible array of services geared towards implementation of NDCs, including technical assistance, financial support, and knowledge enhancement. The NDC Partnership is putting its Country Engagement Strategy in practice, and is delivering results in 22 member countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific in 2017.
The underlying Theory of Change features three key processes of change, articulating the pathways from short-term outputs to longer-term, higher-order outcomes and impact. Read more about the theory behind change.
The in-country engagement strategy consists of five key stages of engagement, as displayed in the engagement cycle. Read more about the five stages.
A central element within the stages of engagement is the Partnership Plan. Through the NDC Partnership, government ministries (both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environment) together with implementing partners develop a plan aimed at achieving collective impact through aligned NDC implementation. Read more about the Partnership Plan.
The NDC Partnership helps facilitate the implementation of the Partnership Plan for achieving the country’s NDC targets – now and in the future. Read more about ways of facilitation.
The NDC Partnership is adding value through strengthening implementation, cooperation, alignment, acceleration, increasing ambition, collaboration, and making climate action happen. Moreover, direct value is being added through supporting and facilitating interventions on policy, strategy, and legislation; budgeting and investment, and monitoring & evaluation (M&E). Read more about the value added here.
Deep engagement is currently taking place in 15 countries. For each country, multiple products and a country engagement toolkit are developed to support coordinated and effective implementation of the NDC.
The NDC Partnership’s Theory of Change outlines the cause-and-effect relationships between the different levels of intended results as well as the underlying assumptions that must hold true in order for those results to be attained.
Five key stages form the country engagement cycle. Each country with deep engagement of the NDC Partnership will go through the below stages, recognizing that each country context is unique and while tailoring engagement approaches to existing coordination mechanisms, to ensure the best possible processes and to ultimately reach the intermediate outcomes and impact that the NDC Partnership’s Theory of Change aims at.
* Are you a country representative and interested in requesting support from the NDC Partnership? Please contact supportunit@ndcpartnership.org for more information.
The Rapid Situational Assessment is the central tool for this stage, and identifies NDC commitments, prioritizes needs, maps stakeholders, catalogues NDC actions, and identifies gaps in support.
The Partnership Plan is at the core of in-country engagement of the NDC Partnership. Read more about the Partnership Plan here.
The Partnership Plan is at the core of NDC Partnership in-country engagement. By using the underlying Theory of Change, relevant stakeholders — including private sector entities, civil society organizations, Implementing Partners, and Development Partners — collaborate to develop a three-year Partnership Plan, which provides a holistic picture of the selected contributions from Implementing Partners to the country’s objectives for NDC Partnership support. The government decides whether to bring in the NDC Partnership Support Unit or In-Country Facilitator (or both) to lead the work planning exercise. Once this multi-stakeholder Partnership Plan is approved by the government, it will provide the basis for coordination and harmonized implementation of NDC Partnership support.
Inputs to the Partnership Plan include the results Kick-Off Workshop and Joint Missions by the NDC Partnership Support Unit and Implementing Partners. Besides a completed, government-approved, and stakeholder-endorsed Partnership Plan for the country, key outputs are: an approved final list of country-level Implementing Partners that will be involved in carrying out the objectives of the Partnership Plan; clear roles and responsibilities developed; a monitoring system for tracking of results agreed and developed; and sharing of results.
The NDC Partnership actively supports the facilitation of the implementation of the Partnership Plan in countries. In the planning stages, the government decides on a preferred model for facilitation, and chooses from three options, which are outlined below. In-country facilitators refine the government’s objectives for support over time; coordinate the Partnership Plan; and serve as an anchor to assist the NDC Partnership in communication and coordinating services at the country level.
Important roles of support for facilitation as well as implementation are played by implementing partners and development partners.
Implementing Partners are organizations that play a key role in delivering specific outputs in the Partnership Plan; have an in-country presence; and offer a comparative advantage in their service offerings, as determined by country governments. They may be international or bilateral development/aid organizations, civil society organizations, and/or private sector entities that have allocated specific resources to the implementation of the Partnership Plan.
Development Partners (DPs) are partners that provide funding for the implementation of the Partnership Plan, either directly through the IPs, or through another mechanism.
| Option 1 | A government Ministry or Agency |
| Option 2 | A government Ministry or Agency, with embedded facilitation support from the NDC Partnership |
| Option 3 | One or more Implementing Partners, Development Partners or agencies chosen by the Focal Points of the government. To ensure effective coordination, a maximum two In-Country Facilitators are recommended. |
Regardless of the chosen option for facilitation, the objective of the NDC Partnership is to build capacity of the government to lead and facilitate implementation, which is what all models actively strive toward.
The NDC Partnership applies a unique in-country approach that is targeted toward delivering collective impact on climate and development action. Key priorities of the NDC Partnership, through which its work is adding value, are collaboration, implementation, increasing ambition, acceleration, cooperation, alignment, and making it happen.
The concrete service offerings the NDC Partnership provides to member countries can be categorized in three main areas of the value chain: policy, strategy, and legislation; budgeting and investment; and monitoring & evaluation (M&E).
The NDC Partnership provides overarching in-country and global knowledge assets that support the process of cross-cutting in-country capacity building, including the Toolbox Navigator, Funding Navigator, and the soon to be launched Climate Watch.
In the first year of the NDC Partnership, deep engagement is taking place in 15 countries around the world. Explore their stories toward success below through country outlooks and most recent updates.
Colombia is working with the NDC Partnership to leverage its relationships to coordinate with stakeholders: horizontally across government, to reduce duplication and resource burden, and vertically with international organizations (HQ and country offices) through information exchange and dialogues. This coordinating support is helping to ensure alignment, shared understanding, and shared goals within a private sector forum and the participation of multilateral organizations in a process to develop an NDC roadmap under the direction of the Ministry of Mines and Energy. The NDC Partnership is providing similar support to other sectors to develop their respective sectoral NDC implementation plans. This country-wide, multi-sector approach being facilitated by the NDC Partnership, in hand with a series of sectoral workshops supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, will allow for full calibration between Colombia’s climate and development agendas. Colombia is expected to benefit from NDC Partnership’s ability to facilitate vertical and horizontal coordination, as well as effective NDC implementation through ownership and accountability for implementing NDC actions.
Costa Rica, with NDC Partnership support, hosted a multi-stakeholder workshop to promote the development of an NDC transport sector action plan and priority adaptation sectoral goals. Through facilitation support from the Partnership, a bilateral visit between the German Minister of Environment and the Costa Rican President demonstrated national commitment to coordinate with international actors on climate action. This visit triggered the creation of two working groups to lead on NDC implementation and engagement with the NDC Partnership, improving in-country coordination and harmonization of strategies. As a result of the NDC Partnership’s support, climate change is being incorporated into the Economic Council’s strategic investment analysis. Moreover, the National Council for Public Investment (CONIP) will now review public investments with climate change in mind. Moving forward, Costa Rica is leveraging NDC Partnership support to further mainstream its NDC into National Development Planning, strengthen public-private partnerships and build capacity to develop and implement to implement a MRV system for climate action monitoring.
The Climate Action Pacific Partnership Conference (CAPP) delivered a very clear message in July of this year: the urgent need to tackle common regional challenges that the countries are facing in implementing NDCs. In response to the country demands in the Pacific, Fiji and other Partnership members are working to establish a NDC Regional Hub to maximize impact by deploying customized technical assistance and ensuring that all the actors with skin in the game are working side by side toward a shared goal, while setting a race for pace for more ambitious goals over time. With initial support from Germany (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development), UK and Australia, this will be the first Hub in any region exclusively focused on NDC implementation with two specific objectives:
If successful, such a model can be replicated in other regions.
With support from the NDC Partnership, the Government of Honduras is in the process of strengthening climate action across the policy cycle: from capacity building and resource allocation, to policy development, monitoring progress and knowledge exchange. The NDC Partnership is supporting Honduras along this path through developing an NDC implementation roadmap, a nationwide program for climate change education, and supporting execution of the ABS master plan. Potential sources for financing the implementation of these major policy pieces include, among others, the Euroclima+ regional program for LAC, the Climate Investment Funds (Forest Investment Program, Pilot Program for Climate Resilience and Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program in Low-Income Countries), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Four implementing partners (IDB, FAO, UNDO and UNEP) are helping the Government in developing several proposals to access GCF resources to support the national climate agenda on dimensions including sustainable forest management, food security, productive landscapes and water resource management.
The collaboration fostered through the NDC Partnership will seek to demonstrate the economic, social, and environmental benefits of NDC implementation. Due to high-level Presidential support, the NDC Partnership Support Unit is working hand in hand with the Presidential Office on Climate Change (CLIMA+), as well as the Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment and Mines (MiAmbiente+) through its National Directorate on Climate Change (DNCC) to lead on NDC implementation. The country is expected to benefit from NDC Partnership’s support to rapidly replicate and scale efforts for more effective and aligned implementation, and enhanced access to climate financing.
In August 2017, the Malian government, with support of the NDC Partnership Support Unit, facilitated the National Dialogue on the Implementation of Mali’s NDC workshop, bringing together stakeholders to discuss respective roles and responsibilities in achieving Mali’s NDC. Three recurring needs arose during the workshop: strengthening institutions and mobilizing finance; assistance for technical implementation; and improved data collection and management. The National Dialogue also fostered South-South Cooperation, allowing representatives from the Moroccan Center for Climate Change Competence (4C Maroc) and the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency to share their experiences with their Malian counterparts in triggering multi-stakeholder NDC action. Now, the NDC Partnership Support Unit, GIZ on behalf of BMZ and other Partnership members is working with Implementing Partners in Mali to develop a Partnership Plan, an NDC roadmap, and investment plan, which will coordinate the government and the Partnership in addressing these needs. With Mali’s experience in designing NDC investment plans, the Partnership can share its lessons learned with other member countries who face similar questions on prioritizing resources and investments for climate and NDC projects.
The Partnership is offering demand-led ad-hoc technical support to overcome challenges of remoteness and capacity constraints. It will also be supporting effective alignment of ambitious energy, climate, and long-term sustainable development objectives, which is of high importance. For key NDC-focused events in the first half of 2018, including the 2nd Climate Change Dialogue, the Partnership plans to provide support for the development partner roundtable regarding financing of the NDC and the 2050 Strategy, through leveraging its large Partner network. RMI’s leadership on developing the ambitious, long-term 2050 Strategy while implementing and enhancing its NDC is providing a strong example for the wider Pacific Region.
The NDC Partnership is particularly well-positioned to support the Marshall Islands in procuring technical expertise and supplementary capacity at a short notice, while at the same time maintaining a bigger picture view and taking a long-term approach to building the capacity within the Marshallese government responsible for leading implementation, particularly in areas with more complex technical dimensions. The Energy Roadmap intends to provide a coordination framework for development partners to ensure that their investment is effective, while also identifying strategies for capacity building and long-term financing for the energy sector. The Partnership is leveraging an excellent opportunity to merge the highly interlinked areas of climate and energy, in order to be well underway in achieving the countries’ ambitious goals in an increasingly coordinated and effective manner.
The NDC Partnership is fostering shared understanding, knowledge and accountability between key stakeholders while supporting decisions makers with the information and capacity to lead climate planning and implementation activities. More specifically, the Partnership has been facilitating dialogues and information sharing between the national government and key development and implementing partners. Through a World Bank supported multi-stakeholder planning process, the country developed a multisector plan for climate action, which defines 26 priorities to advance the country’s adaptation and mitigation agenda in line with national development strategies. The NDC Partnership has also provided flexible funding through the NDC Support Facility of the World Bank to support the integration of adaptation and resilience measures into national policies and planning and to build local capacities to use climate data to identify climate risks. Moving forward, the NDC Partnership is preparing to develop a Partnership Plan through a transparent, participatory process that engages all relevant stakeholders.
Through stakeholder consultations, the Partnership helped to surface predominant and recurrent issues related to mainstreaming climate change policy into national development agendas. For the first time, the Partnership Support Unit conducted a multi-stakeholder forum that assembled and catalyzed climate ambition from multiple stakeholders. The Partnership will establish a clear and direct linkage between the NDC and the Sustainable Development Vision 2030.
The Partnership is already working with its members to address the need for national and sub-national sector investment plans; with special attention on the energy, agriculture, land use and water sectors. Another key priority for the Partnership is to strengthen and empower national entities—such as the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and the Environment and Climate Fund (ECF)—in gaining vital access to financial resources; successfully implementing Mongolia’s NDC is largely subject to international finance assistance.
The Partnership has already created momentum across various ministries and development partners to converge their actions (ADB, FAO, GGGI, GIZ, IGES, JICA, KfW, UNEP, and UNDP). The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had effectively convened partners after the NDC Partnership Forum to draw up an indicative approach and timeline on how best the Partnership can respond to the key messages of the government from the Forum.
When the Ministry of the Environment, with support from Germany, established 4C Maroc, Morocco was provided with a platform through which to demonstrate its climate planning leadership. This platform has much to offer, especially when it comes to financing. Morocco is one of the first countries in Africa to use green bonds to fund renewable energy projects, and has developed guidelines on certifying and issuing bonds as resources for clean energy facilities. With bonds issued from the Morocco Agency for Sustainable Energy, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank, and financing from KfW, Morocco was able to fund the USD 2.4 billion 580 MW Noor Solar Thermal Plant, one of the first of its kind in Africa due to size, technology, and financing structure. Together with the NDC Partnership, the 4C Maroc knowledge exchange platform is already in action, sharing its experience on developing these types of innovative financing mechanisms with other African countries, and even more widely amongst other NDC Partnership member countries. Furthermore, due to its long standing and strategic partnership with Morocco, the EU through its Neighborhood Investment Facility catalyzed approximately 70 % of investment for the 3 phases of the NOOR project of up to € 106.5 million, and pledged to continue its support for an additional € 43 million for the third phase of the project.
The Government of Namibia, with support of NDC Partnership members, is seeking to mainstream climate action, the Sustainable Development Goals and the NDC throughout national development plans and sector plans and priorities. Through this work, the Partnership is seeking to provide assistance with elaborating NDC targets and securing finance needed for implementation through public, private and international sources. Following a High-level Forum and Technical Meeting conducted in Windhoek in October 2017, that brought together ministerial representatives, development partners, the private sector, and civil society organizations, the Support Unit of the Partnership and the Namibian government are coordinating Implementing Partners to develop a country-driven road map for NDC implementation.
Pakistan hosted a Kick-Off Workshop in April 2017, which included discussions with over 20 stakeholders. Following up on this workshop, GIZ on behalf of BMZ, offered support to Pakistan, amongst others, focusing on developing an NDC implementation roadmap, implementing the 2017 Climate Change Act, including the setting up of a Climate Change Authority. The World Bank NDC Support Facility is providing strategic support on efficiency policies and actions through knowledge exchange, investment strategies, as well as the development of a 3-year business plan for Pakistan’s National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA). At the provincial level, the GIZ NDC Assist Project is helping to “unpack” NDC implementation, which will include, amongst others, taking energy efficiency measures and renewable energy deployment into consideration for developing provincial NDCs. The Partnership has also started exploring carbon pricing options with the UNFCCC’s Collaborative Instruments for Ambitious Climate Action (CIACA), which will be a particularly critical element to get right for sustainable and efficient energy transition in Pakistan, working toward a competitive low-carbon economy.
The NDC Partnership is fostering shared understanding, knowledge and accountability between key stakeholders while supporting decisions makers with the information and capacity to lead climate planning and implementation activities. More specifically, the Partnership has been facilitating dialogues and information sharing between the national government and key development and implementing partners. Through a World Bank supported multi-stakeholder planning process, the country developed a multisector plan for climate action, which defines 26 priorities to advance the country’s adaptation and mitigation agenda in line with national development strategies. The NDC Partnership has also provided flexible funding through the NDC Support Facility of the World Bank to support the integration of adaptation and resilience measures into national policies and planning and to build local capacities to use climate data to identify climate risks. Moving forward, the NDC Partnership is preparing to develop a Partnership Plan through a transparent, participatory process that engages all relevant stakeholders.
In September 2017, the Minister of Local Affairs and Environment, H.E Mr. Riadh Mouakhar, hosted representatives of Government, UNDP, GIZ and the NDC Partnership Support Unit to mark the occasion of the agreement on joint facilitation. As a result of this agreement, the NDC Partnership Plan process will replace and capitalize on an existing UNDP project that worked to develop Tunisia’s NDC implementation roadmap. The NDC Partnership’s September mission to Tunisia was organized in conjunction with the AdaptAction facility mission, run by the French Development Agency (AFD) and Expertise France. The Partnership took this opportunity to ensure that multilateral development actions remain synchronized and effective.
To date, coordinating climate and development activities has only been institutionalized in the energy sector. The NDC Partnership—through its in-country facilitators and implementing partners—will support the Government of Tunisia in effectively facilitating and coordinating international support and long-term planning through set up of the Management Unit for Climate Change and NDC Implementation. The NDC Partnership Plan will synthesize these developments and bring climate-related activities to one place; Government and development partners will be able to ensure greater impact from invested resources.
As a last—but my no means final—point, the NDC Partnership will be supporting the Government in identifying needs and gaps related to implementing Tunisia’s NDC. This allows Tunisia’s Government and development partners to divert support towards priority areas, and leverage additional funds to address these gaps within the Partnership Plan.
Uganda is one of the first countries in the process of developing an NDC Partnership Plan, with in country facilitation support provided by the Dutch Embassy till date. Along with supporting the development of this plan, the NDC Partnership is also in the process of providing assistance, channeled through the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development (MOFPED), the National Planning Authority and the Climate Change Department of the Ministry of Water and Environment, to mainstream climate change and NDC actions into: sub-national government planning; sector development strategies; national monitoring and evaluation frameworks; and the annual budgeting process. One of the Partnership’s more innovative projects in country is the creation of budget tagging and tracking system to identify budget allocations, expenditures and resources needs for climate related projects. This system will enable the Government of Uganda to tie budget line items to climate projects and connect resources from multiple sources to bridge funding gaps for climate and NDC related projects.
In June, a two-year NDC review process was launched by the Vietnamese government with support from the NDC Partnership. By August, a set of three subnational forums have been completed to support consultations on the review. In September, policy dialogues to implementation the 68 tasks specified in the Paris Agreement Implementation Plan were carried out jointly between the government counterparts with development partners. As guided by the initial Partnership Plan, the in-country implementing partners are working collaboratively to carry out a mapping of ongoing work and existing gaps and needs on the NDC targets, including through analyzing the existing green growth and energy strategies. This Partnership activity aims to result in supporting the alignment of agendas, as well as supporting a further prioritization of activities within the NDC Implementation Plan.
The critical mapping exercise aims to recommend priorities as input for the National Committee on Climate Change. As part of the mapping and prioritization process, the Partnership will also support a consultative process to collect inputs from relevant stakeholders and actors, including line ministries, a broad spectrum of development partners, and private sector representatives. Through its engagement, the Partnership supports the work of the Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and Planning and Investment (MPI) on green growth and the NDC, as well as broader planning agendas.
The NDC Partnership is founded on the principle that effective cooperation can fast-track the achievement of results and enhance the collective impact of invested resources. Member countries who request support and drive in-country NDC implementation acquire access to a large network of partners that can deliver a flexible array of services geared towards implementation of NDCs, including technical assistance, financial support, and knowledge enhancement. The NDC Partnership is putting its Country Engagement Strategy in practice, and is delivering results in 22 member countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific in 2017.
The underlying Theory of Change features three key processes of change, articulating the pathways from short-term outputs to longer-term, higher-order outcomes and impact. Read more about the theory behind change.
The in-country engagement strategy consists of five key stages of engagement, as displayed in the engagement cycle. Read more about the five stages.
A central element within the stages of engagement is the Partnership Plan. Through the NDC Partnership, government ministries (both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environment) together with implementing partners develop a plan aimed at achieving collective impact through aligned NDC implementation. Read more about the Partnership Plan.
The NDC Partnership helps facilitate the implementation of the Partnership Plan for achieving the country’s NDC targets – now and in the future. Read more about ways of facilitation.
The NDC Partnership is adding value through strengthening implementation, cooperation, alignment, acceleration, increasing ambition, collaboration, and making climate action happen. Moreover, direct value is being added through supporting and facilitating interventions on policy, strategy, and legislation; budgeting and investment, and monitoring & evaluation (M&E). Read more about the value added here.
Deep engagement is currently taking place in 15 countries. For each country, multiple products and a country engagement toolkit are developed to support coordinated and effective implementation of the NDC.
The NDC Partnership’s Theory of Change outlines the cause-and-effect relationships between the different levels of intended results as well as the underlying assumptions that must hold true in order for those results to be attained.
Five key stages form the country engagement cycle. Each country with deep engagement of the NDC Partnership will go through the below stages, recognizing that each country context is unique and while tailoring engagement approaches to existing coordination mechanisms, to ensure the best possible processes and to ultimately reach the intermediate outcomes and impact that the NDC Partnership’s Theory of Change aims at.
* Are you a country representative and interested in requesting support from the NDC Partnership? Please contact supportunit@ndcpartnership.org for more information.
The Rapid Situational Assessment is the central tool for this stage, and identifies NDC commitments, prioritizes needs, maps stakeholders, catalogues NDC actions, and identifies gaps in support.
The Partnership Plan is at the core of in-country engagement of the NDC Partnership. Read more about the Partnership Plan here.
The Partnership Plan is at the core of NDC Partnership in-country engagement. By using the underlying Theory of Change, relevant stakeholders — including private sector entities, civil society organizations, Implementing Partners, and Development Partners — collaborate to develop a three-year Partnership Plan, which provides a holistic picture of the selected contributions from Implementing Partners to the country’s objectives for NDC Partnership support. The government decides whether to bring in the NDC Partnership Support Unit or In-Country Facilitator (or both) to lead the work planning exercise. Once this multi-stakeholder Partnership Plan is approved by the government, it will provide the basis for coordination and harmonized implementation of NDC Partnership support.
Inputs to the Partnership Plan include the results Kick-Off Workshop and Joint Missions by the NDC Partnership Support Unit and Implementing Partners. Besides a completed, government-approved, and stakeholder-endorsed Partnership Plan for the country, key outputs are: an approved final list of country-level Implementing Partners that will be involved in carrying out the objectives of the Partnership Plan; clear roles and responsibilities developed; a monitoring system for tracking of results agreed and developed; and sharing of results.
The NDC Partnership actively supports the facilitation of the implementation of the Partnership Plan in countries. In the planning stages, the government decides on a preferred model for facilitation, and chooses from three options, which are outlined below. In-country facilitators refine the government’s objectives for support over time; coordinate the Partnership Plan; and serve as an anchor to assist the NDC Partnership in communication and coordinating services at the country level.
Important roles of support for facilitation as well as implementation are played by implementing partners and development partners.
Implementing Partners are organizations that play a key role in delivering specific outputs in the Partnership Plan; have an in-country presence; and offer a comparative advantage in their service offerings, as determined by country governments. They may be international or bilateral development/aid organizations, civil society organizations, and/or private sector entities that have allocated specific resources to the implementation of the Partnership Plan.
Development Partners (DPs) are partners that provide funding for the implementation of the Partnership Plan, either directly through the IPs, or through another mechanism.
| Option 1 | A government Ministry or Agency |
| Option 2 | A government Ministry or Agency, with embedded facilitation support from the NDC Partnership |
| Option 3 | One or more Implementing Partners, Development Partners or agencies chosen by the Focal Points of the government. To ensure effective coordination, a maximum two In-Country Facilitators are recommended. |
Regardless of the chosen option for facilitation, the objective of the NDC Partnership is to build capacity of the government to lead and facilitate implementation, which is what all models actively strive toward.
The NDC Partnership applies a unique in-country approach that is targeted toward delivering collective impact on climate and development action. Key priorities of the NDC Partnership, through which its work is adding value, are collaboration, implementation, increasing ambition, acceleration, cooperation, alignment, and making it happen.
The concrete service offerings the NDC Partnership provides to member countries can be categorized in three main areas of the value chain: policy, strategy, and legislation; budgeting and investment; and monitoring & evaluation (M&E).
The NDC Partnership provides overarching in-country and global knowledge assets that support the process of cross-cutting in-country capacity building, including the Toolbox Navigator, Funding Navigator, and the soon to be launched Climate Watch.
In the first year of the NDC Partnership, deep engagement is taking place in 15 countries around the world. Explore their stories toward success below through country outlooks and most recent updates.
Colombia is working with the NDC Partnership to leverage its relationships to coordinate with stakeholders: horizontally across government, to reduce duplication and resource burden, and vertically with international organizations (HQ and country offices) through information exchange and dialogues. This coordinating support is helping to ensure alignment, shared understanding, and shared goals within a private sector forum and the participation of multilateral organizations in a process to develop an NDC roadmap under the direction of the Ministry of Mines and Energy. The NDC Partnership is providing similar support to other sectors to develop their respective sectoral NDC implementation plans. This country-wide, multi-sector approach being facilitated by the NDC Partnership, in hand with a series of sectoral workshops supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, will allow for full calibration between Colombia’s climate and development agendas. Colombia is expected to benefit from NDC Partnership’s ability to facilitate vertical and horizontal coordination, as well as effective NDC implementation through ownership and accountability for implementing NDC actions.
Costa Rica, with NDC Partnership support, hosted a multi-stakeholder workshop to promote the development of an NDC transport sector action plan and priority adaptation sectoral goals. Through facilitation support from the Partnership, a bilateral visit between the German Minister of Environment and the Costa Rican President demonstrated national commitment to coordinate with international actors on climate action. This visit triggered the creation of two working groups to lead on NDC implementation and engagement with the NDC Partnership, improving in-country coordination and harmonization of strategies. As a result of the NDC Partnership’s support, climate change is being incorporated into the Economic Council’s strategic investment analysis. Moreover, the National Council for Public Investment (CONIP) will now review public investments with climate change in mind. Moving forward, Costa Rica is leveraging NDC Partnership support to further mainstream its NDC into National Development Planning, strengthen public-private partnerships and build capacity to develop and implement to implement a MRV system for climate action monitoring.
The Climate Action Pacific Partnership Conference (CAPP) delivered a very clear message in July of this year: the urgent need to tackle common regional challenges that the countries are facing in implementing NDCs. In response to the country demands in the Pacific, Fiji and other Partnership members are working to establish a NDC Regional Hub to maximize impact by deploying customized technical assistance and ensuring that all the actors with skin in the game are working side by side toward a shared goal, while setting a race for pace for more ambitious goals over time. With initial support from Germany (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development), UK and Australia, this will be the first Hub in any region exclusively focused on NDC implementation with two specific objectives:
If successful, such a model can be replicated in other regions.
With support from the NDC Partnership, the Government of Honduras is in the process of strengthening climate action across the policy cycle: from capacity building and resource allocation, to policy development, monitoring progress and knowledge exchange. The NDC Partnership is supporting Honduras along this path through developing an NDC implementation roadmap, a nationwide program for climate change education, and supporting execution of the ABS master plan. Potential sources for financing the implementation of these major policy pieces include, among others, the Euroclima+ regional program for LAC, the Climate Investment Funds (Forest Investment Program, Pilot Program for Climate Resilience and Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program in Low-Income Countries), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Four implementing partners (IDB, FAO, UNDO and UNEP) are helping the Government in developing several proposals to access GCF resources to support the national climate agenda on dimensions including sustainable forest management, food security, productive landscapes and water resource management.
The collaboration fostered through the NDC Partnership will seek to demonstrate the economic, social, and environmental benefits of NDC implementation. Due to high-level Presidential support, the NDC Partnership Support Unit is working hand in hand with the Presidential Office on Climate Change (CLIMA+), as well as the Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment and Mines (MiAmbiente+) through its National Directorate on Climate Change (DNCC) to lead on NDC implementation. The country is expected to benefit from NDC Partnership’s support to rapidly replicate and scale efforts for more effective and aligned implementation, and enhanced access to climate financing.
In August 2017, the Malian government, with support of the NDC Partnership Support Unit, facilitated the National Dialogue on the Implementation of Mali’s NDC workshop, bringing together stakeholders to discuss respective roles and responsibilities in achieving Mali’s NDC. Three recurring needs arose during the workshop: strengthening institutions and mobilizing finance; assistance for technical implementation; and improved data collection and management. The National Dialogue also fostered South-South Cooperation, allowing representatives from the Moroccan Center for Climate Change Competence (4C Maroc) and the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency to share their experiences with their Malian counterparts in triggering multi-stakeholder NDC action. Now, the NDC Partnership Support Unit, GIZ on behalf of BMZ and other Partnership members is working with Implementing Partners in Mali to develop a Partnership Plan, an NDC roadmap, and investment plan, which will coordinate the government and the Partnership in addressing these needs. With Mali’s experience in designing NDC investment plans, the Partnership can share its lessons learned with other member countries who face similar questions on prioritizing resources and investments for climate and NDC projects.
The Partnership is offering demand-led ad-hoc technical support to overcome challenges of remoteness and capacity constraints. It will also be supporting effective alignment of ambitious energy, climate, and long-term sustainable development objectives, which is of high importance. For key NDC-focused events in the first half of 2018, including the 2nd Climate Change Dialogue, the Partnership plans to provide support for the development partner roundtable regarding financing of the NDC and the 2050 Strategy, through leveraging its large Partner network. RMI’s leadership on developing the ambitious, long-term 2050 Strategy while implementing and enhancing its NDC is providing a strong example for the wider Pacific Region.
The NDC Partnership is particularly well-positioned to support the Marshall Islands in procuring technical expertise and supplementary capacity at a short notice, while at the same time maintaining a bigger picture view and taking a long-term approach to building the capacity within the Marshallese government responsible for leading implementation, particularly in areas with more complex technical dimensions. The Energy Roadmap intends to provide a coordination framework for development partners to ensure that their investment is effective, while also identifying strategies for capacity building and long-term financing for the energy sector. The Partnership is leveraging an excellent opportunity to merge the highly interlinked areas of climate and energy, in order to be well underway in achieving the countries’ ambitious goals in an increasingly coordinated and effective manner.
The NDC Partnership is fostering shared understanding, knowledge and accountability between key stakeholders while supporting decisions makers with the information and capacity to lead climate planning and implementation activities. More specifically, the Partnership has been facilitating dialogues and information sharing between the national government and key development and implementing partners. Through a World Bank supported multi-stakeholder planning process, the country developed a multisector plan for climate action, which defines 26 priorities to advance the country’s adaptation and mitigation agenda in line with national development strategies. The NDC Partnership has also provided flexible funding through the NDC Support Facility of the World Bank to support the integration of adaptation and resilience measures into national policies and planning and to build local capacities to use climate data to identify climate risks. Moving forward, the NDC Partnership is preparing to develop a Partnership Plan through a transparent, participatory process that engages all relevant stakeholders.
Through stakeholder consultations, the Partnership helped to surface predominant and recurrent issues related to mainstreaming climate change policy into national development agendas. For the first time, the Partnership Support Unit conducted a multi-stakeholder forum that assembled and catalyzed climate ambition from multiple stakeholders. The Partnership will establish a clear and direct linkage between the NDC and the Sustainable Development Vision 2030.
The Partnership is already working with its members to address the need for national and sub-national sector investment plans; with special attention on the energy, agriculture, land use and water sectors. Another key priority for the Partnership is to strengthen and empower national entities—such as the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and the Environment and Climate Fund (ECF)—in gaining vital access to financial resources; successfully implementing Mongolia’s NDC is largely subject to international finance assistance.
The Partnership has already created momentum across various ministries and development partners to converge their actions (ADB, FAO, GGGI, GIZ, IGES, JICA, KfW, UNEP, and UNDP). The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had effectively convened partners after the NDC Partnership Forum to draw up an indicative approach and timeline on how best the Partnership can respond to the key messages of the government from the Forum.
When the Ministry of the Environment, with support from Germany, established 4C Maroc, Morocco was provided with a platform through which to demonstrate its climate planning leadership. This platform has much to offer, especially when it comes to financing. Morocco is one of the first countries in Africa to use green bonds to fund renewable energy projects, and has developed guidelines on certifying and issuing bonds as resources for clean energy facilities. With bonds issued from the Morocco Agency for Sustainable Energy, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank, and financing from KfW, Morocco was able to fund the USD 2.4 billion 580 MW Noor Solar Thermal Plant, one of the first of its kind in Africa due to size, technology, and financing structure. Together with the NDC Partnership, the 4C Maroc knowledge exchange platform is already in action, sharing its experience on developing these types of innovative financing mechanisms with other African countries, and even more widely amongst other NDC Partnership member countries. Furthermore, due to its long standing and strategic partnership with Morocco, the EU through its Neighborhood Investment Facility catalyzed approximately 70 % of investment for the 3 phases of the NOOR project of up to € 106.5 million, and pledged to continue its support for an additional € 43 million for the third phase of the project.
The Government of Namibia, with support of NDC Partnership members, is seeking to mainstream climate action, the Sustainable Development Goals and the NDC throughout national development plans and sector plans and priorities. Through this work, the Partnership is seeking to provide assistance with elaborating NDC targets and securing finance needed for implementation through public, private and international sources. Following a High-level Forum and Technical Meeting conducted in Windhoek in October 2017, that brought together ministerial representatives, development partners, the private sector, and civil society organizations, the Support Unit of the Partnership and the Namibian government are coordinating Implementing Partners to develop a country-driven road map for NDC implementation.
Pakistan hosted a Kick-Off Workshop in April 2017, which included discussions with over 20 stakeholders. Following up on this workshop, GIZ on behalf of BMZ, offered support to Pakistan, amongst others, focusing on developing an NDC implementation roadmap, implementing the 2017 Climate Change Act, including the setting up of a Climate Change Authority. The World Bank NDC Support Facility is providing strategic support on efficiency policies and actions through knowledge exchange, investment strategies, as well as the development of a 3-year business plan for Pakistan’s National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA). At the provincial level, the GIZ NDC Assist Project is helping to “unpack” NDC implementation, which will include, amongst others, taking energy efficiency measures and renewable energy deployment into consideration for developing provincial NDCs. The Partnership has also started exploring carbon pricing options with the UNFCCC’s Collaborative Instruments for Ambitious Climate Action (CIACA), which will be a particularly critical element to get right for sustainable and efficient energy transition in Pakistan, working toward a competitive low-carbon economy.
The NDC Partnership is fostering shared understanding, knowledge and accountability between key stakeholders while supporting decisions makers with the information and capacity to lead climate planning and implementation activities. More specifically, the Partnership has been facilitating dialogues and information sharing between the national government and key development and implementing partners. Through a World Bank supported multi-stakeholder planning process, the country developed a multisector plan for climate action, which defines 26 priorities to advance the country’s adaptation and mitigation agenda in line with national development strategies. The NDC Partnership has also provided flexible funding through the NDC Support Facility of the World Bank to support the integration of adaptation and resilience measures into national policies and planning and to build local capacities to use climate data to identify climate risks. Moving forward, the NDC Partnership is preparing to develop a Partnership Plan through a transparent, participatory process that engages all relevant stakeholders.
In September 2017, the Minister of Local Affairs and Environment, H.E Mr. Riadh Mouakhar, hosted representatives of Government, UNDP, GIZ and the NDC Partnership Support Unit to mark the occasion of the agreement on joint facilitation. As a result of this agreement, the NDC Partnership Plan process will replace and capitalize on an existing UNDP project that worked to develop Tunisia’s NDC implementation roadmap. The NDC Partnership’s September mission to Tunisia was organized in conjunction with the AdaptAction facility mission, run by the French Development Agency (AFD) and Expertise France. The Partnership took this opportunity to ensure that multilateral development actions remain synchronized and effective.
To date, coordinating climate and development activities has only been institutionalized in the energy sector. The NDC Partnership—through its in-country facilitators and implementing partners—will support the Government of Tunisia in effectively facilitating and coordinating international support and long-term planning through set up of the Management Unit for Climate Change and NDC Implementation. The NDC Partnership Plan will synthesize these developments and bring climate-related activities to one place; Government and development partners will be able to ensure greater impact from invested resources.
As a last—but my no means final—point, the NDC Partnership will be supporting the Government in identifying needs and gaps related to implementing Tunisia’s NDC. This allows Tunisia’s Government and development partners to divert support towards priority areas, and leverage additional funds to address these gaps within the Partnership Plan.
Uganda is one of the first countries in the process of developing an NDC Partnership Plan, with in country facilitation support provided by the Dutch Embassy till date. Along with supporting the development of this plan, the NDC Partnership is also in the process of providing assistance, channeled through the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development (MOFPED), the National Planning Authority and the Climate Change Department of the Ministry of Water and Environment, to mainstream climate change and NDC actions into: sub-national government planning; sector development strategies; national monitoring and evaluation frameworks; and the annual budgeting process. One of the Partnership’s more innovative projects in country is the creation of budget tagging and tracking system to identify budget allocations, expenditures and resources needs for climate related projects. This system will enable the Government of Uganda to tie budget line items to climate projects and connect resources from multiple sources to bridge funding gaps for climate and NDC related projects.
In June, a two-year NDC review process was launched by the Vietnamese government with support from the NDC Partnership. By August, a set of three subnational forums have been completed to support consultations on the review. In September, policy dialogues to implementation the 68 tasks specified in the Paris Agreement Implementation Plan were carried out jointly between the government counterparts with development partners. As guided by the initial Partnership Plan, the in-country implementing partners are working collaboratively to carry out a mapping of ongoing work and existing gaps and needs on the NDC targets, including through analyzing the existing green growth and energy strategies. This Partnership activity aims to result in supporting the alignment of agendas, as well as supporting a further prioritization of activities within the NDC Implementation Plan.
The critical mapping exercise aims to recommend priorities as input for the National Committee on Climate Change. As part of the mapping and prioritization process, the Partnership will also support a consultative process to collect inputs from relevant stakeholders and actors, including line ministries, a broad spectrum of development partners, and private sector representatives. Through its engagement, the Partnership supports the work of the Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and Planning and Investment (MPI) on green growth and the NDC, as well as broader planning agendas.
The NDC Partnership is founded on the principle that effective cooperation can fast-track the achievement of results and enhance the collective impact of invested resources. Member countries who request support and drive in-country NDC implementation acquire access to a large network of partners that can deliver a flexible array of services geared towards implementation of NDCs, including technical assistance, financial support, and knowledge enhancement. The NDC Partnership is putting its Country Engagement Strategy in practice, and is delivering results in 22 member countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific in 2017.