Papua New Guinea Kickstarts NDC Revision Process

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is at the forefront of climate negotiations and on March 29, 2016 it became the first country in the world to submit a national climate plan to the UNFCCC. The country’s large intact forests, its position as the biggest island in the Pacific, and its susceptibility to climate hazards have made the country a champion in fighting the adverse impacts of climate change. The country’s Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) is the lead government agency to coordinate climate initiatives and serves as a National Designated Authority to the UNFCCC. CCD also serves as one of Papua New Guinea’s focal points for the NDC Partnership.

Despite the current global challenges, related to COVID, Papua New Guinea remains committed to revising and submitting its NDC in 2020, in line with the five-year revision requirement under the Paris Agreement. To that end, the revision process in Papua New Guinea is already well underway. The CCDA has implemented a stepwise approach to coordinate the enhancement process between stakeholders from relevant government agencies, development partners, civil society, and the private sector. A Technical Working Committee (TWC) comprised of the CCDA divisional experts was established to review the current NDC and determine roles and responsibilities for the NDC revision. 

The revision of PNG’s NDC is supported through the NDC Partnership’s Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP); In the energy sector, GIZ is supporting the stakeholder consultation process, GGGI is developing a sectoral mitigation plan along with the corresponding implementation regulations, and IRENA is supporting the development of an energy data audit, a data collection protocol, a pilot test, and training. In the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector, FAO is conducting consultation workshops and developing mitigation regulation options. UN Environment is providing the expertise of established environmental lawyers to help the country develop mitigation and adaptation regulations. 

The first three-day TWC lockdown session was held with the financial support of the UNDP’s Climate Promise at the Koitaki Country Club from 29 June to 1 July 2020. UNDP is providing complementary support on PNG’s NDC enhancement. It was facilitated by the CCDA’s Measurement, Reporting & Verification (MRV) and National Communication (NC) Division. This workshop was an important step to kick off the review and preparation for PNG’s next NDC. The NDC Partnership also supported the CCDA’s efforts by working to provide inputs and suggestions on the zero draft of PNG’s updated NDC and in the preparation of the NDC revision workplan. 

PNG’s NDC National Focal Point, Mr. Alfred Rungol, said this session is very timely to better coordinate efforts of the government and other stakeholders to revise the NDC and align with the national development policies and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Furthermore, the UNDP Resident Representative, Dirk Wagener, said UNDP has been a traditional development partner and will continue to support the government of PNG to build capacity and provide technical support in addressing climate change in PNG. CCDA acknowledged the National Executive Council for the recent endorsement of the policy submission on NDC revision and Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action) Roadmap. This is the first achievement under this partnership which confirms high-level buy-in among decision makers.