Tag: Paris Agreement

Implications for climate policy – helping policy makers understand opportunities in Joint Policy Day

On 7 November 2018, CD-LINKS, GREEN-WIN and TRANSRISK are hosting a Joint Policy Day in Brussels, Belgium.

Climate strategies showing that voluntary nationally determined contributions to meet the Paris Agreement will also be beneficial in terms of other policy objectives at local, national and regional levels are now seen as cornerstones for climate action. This may include national policies that generate environmental and health co-benefits, such as a reduction in air pollution.

The development of shorter-term, multiple-objective and bottom-up climate strategies is further strengthened by implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These provide 2030 targets for all aspects of human development, including climate, water, human health and well-being, social justice, poverty reduction and gender equality. Many of those SDGs, such as human well-being, poverty reduction and gender equality, are prerequisites for governments to address the climate problem – fostering SDGs in the short term will also provide climate benefits in the longer term. Conversely, implementation of the SDGs also illustrates possible trade-off between goals such as, for example, food security and emission reduction through biofuels.

The policy day integrates complementary perspectives on climate goals by collectively presenting the core findings of three EU-funded projects together with their implications for climate policy. Policy makers will need to understand the opportunities that this new framework presents, as well as the potential risks and uncertainties that lie in any proposed transition.

The three EU-funded Horizon 2020 projects featured have helped to address this need from complementary perspectives:

  • GREEN-WIN focused on macro-economic and green business strategies that address both economic and climate goals, as well as the role finance plays within these;
  • TRANS-RISK studied risks and uncertainties within low emission transition pathways, and how transitions can be implemented in ways that are economically and sociably feasible; and
  • CD-LINKS explored the complex interplay between climate action and development, while simultaneously taking both global and national perspectives and thereby informing the design of complementary climate-development policies.

The event is hosted by the Global Climate Forum and will take place at the Royal Library Meeting Center in Brussels, Belgium.

For more information, please email: cd-links.secretariat(@)iiasa.ac.at.

You can find the agenda here.

Clean power is not enough: More action in other sectors needed to meet Paris targets

CO2 emissions from non-electricity energy uses, such as industry, transport, and heating, are the greatest impediment to meeting the Paris climate targets, according to new research from an international team of scientists working on the CD-LINKS project.

Debates about the Paris climate targets often centre around electricity supply. Yet, even in a world of stringent climate policies and clean power generation, the remaining use of fossil fuels in industry, transport, and heating in buildings could still cause enough CO2emissions to endanger the climate targets agreed on by the international community. Published in Nature Climate Change, the new study, coauthored by IIASA researchers and led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), is the first to focus specifically on the residual emissions from sectors that are not as easily decarbonised as power generation.

© bibiphoto / Shutterstock

© bibiphoto / Shutterstock

“We wanted to decipher what really makes the difference in terms of carbon budgets and residual emissions. To identify crucial decarbonisation bottlenecks towards 1.5-2°C stabilisation, we focused on the role of fossil fuel emissions that originate in industries like cement or steel making, fuel our transport sector from cars to freight to aviation and goes into heating our buildings,” says Shinichiro Fujimori, a researcher from the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) and Kyoto University in Japan. “These sectors are much more complicated to decarbonise than our energy supply, as there are no such obvious options available as wind and solar electricity generation.”

It is these activities that crucially determine how much CO2 will be emitted within this century, and how much the world will have to rely on negative emissions technologies if the climate targets are to be met.

The researchers find that for the 1.5°C temperature limit, negative emissions technologies might no longer be just an option, but a necessity. The Paris goal of keeping global warming well below 2°C and further pursuing to limit it to 1.5°C implies a remaining carbon budget of just 200 billion tons of CO2 until 2100, which is in stark contrast to the 4,000 billion tons of CO2 that would be emitted until 2100 if current trends continue. Mitigation efforts pledged so far are inadequate to reduce emissions sufficiently. This gives rise to concerns about the increasing reliance on uncertain and potentially risky technologies for so-called negative emissions technologies to remove greenhouse gases from the air, such as bioenergy plantations combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS).

“We found that even with enormous efforts by all countries, including early and substantial strengthening of the intended Nationally Determined Contributions (the NDCs), our calculations show that residual fossil carbon emissions will remain at about 1,000 Gigatons of CO2,” explains lead author Gunnar Luderer from PIK. “This seems to be a lower end of what can be achieved with even the most stringent climate policies, because much of the residual emissions are already locked-into the system due to existing infrastructures and dependencies on fossil fuels. To aim for the ambitious 1.5°C target for end-of-century warming would mean that an incredibly huge amount of at least 600 Gigatons of CO2 removal was required.”

The team of computer modelers from Europe, the US, and Japan used seven integrated assessment models to look at different climate change scenarios. Their study is the first to compare scenarios where stricter emissions reduction policies in line with the Paris climate targets are adopted, with scenarios where countries continue with the existing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) set out as part of the Paris Agreement, which many agree are insufficient to meet the targets.

“Even if we start being serious about emissions reductions today, about 25 years’ worth of today’s emissions are still expected to be produced by the accumulated industrial, transport, and building infrastructure of the world. However, if we follow what countries have promised under the Paris Agreement and wait until after 2030 with serious emissions reductions, even more emissions will be locked in and the world will have to rely much stronger on CO2 removal technologies that remain unproven at scale,” says IIASA researcher Joeri Rogelj.

Not strengthening the NDCs before 2030 would not only increase near-term emissions, but would also hurt the longer-term emission reduction potentials as it locks in even more investments into fossil-based infrastructures, according to their study.

“Climate mitigation might be a complex challenge, but it boils down to quite simple math in the end: If the Paris targets are to be met, future CO2 emissions have to be kept within a finite budget,” says Elmar Kriegler from PIK, adding: “While it may still be difficult to determine the exact remaining CO2 budget for 1.5°C, one thing is very clear – ambitions to reduce fossil fuel emissions have to be ramped up substantially and soon to keep doors open to meet the Paris targets.”

Reference

Luderer G, Vrontisi Z, Bertram C, Edelenbosch OY, Pietzcker RC, Rogelj J, De Boer HS, Drouet L, et al. (2018) Residual fossil CO2 emissions in 1.5-2°C pathways. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0198-6 [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15340] 

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement no. 308329 (ADVANCE) as well as the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 642147 (CD-LINKS). PIK also received support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of ENavi, one of the four Kopernikus Projects.

Text adapted from a press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany

Visualization of Energy Investment web page published – based on analysis in Nature Energy journal

CD-LINKS has created a visualization web page that was developed based on an analysis published in the journal Nature Energy, which showed that low carbon investments will need to markedly increase if the world is to achieve the Paris Agreement aim of keeping global warming well below 2°C.

The authors of the analysis find that a fundamental transformation of the global energy system can be achieved with a comparatively modest increase in overall investments. However, a radical shift of investments away from fossil fuels and toward renewables and energy efficiency is needed, including dedicated investments into measures to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As part of the Paris Agreement in 2015, many countries defined Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) designed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The study confirms that current incentives like the NDCs will not provide sufficient impetus for the “pronounced change” in investment portfolios that are needed to transform the energy system. 

To keep global temperature rise to 1.5–2°C, investments in low carbon energy and energy efficiency will likely need to overtake investments in fossil fuels as early as 2025 and then grow far higher. The low carbon and energy efficiency “investment gaps” calculated by the researchers are striking. To meet countries’ NDCs, an additional US$130 billion of investment will be needed by 2030, while to achieve the 2°C target the gap is US$320 billion and for 1.5°C it is US$480 billion. These investment figures represent more than a quarter of total energy investments foreseen in the baseline scenario, and up to half in some economies such as China and India.

Key insights of the analysis have been visualized in a user-friendly way with the CD-LINKS Energy Investment Visualization page, the development of which was led by Valentina Bosetti and Laurent Drouet of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC).

More detailed information on this story is available from the IIASA news webpage.

Sustainable national roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C – the Indian perspective: Summary report CD-LINKS stakeholder & expert workshop

Researchers of think tanks, NGOs, businesses and government staff participated in a stakeholder and expert workshop for the CD-LINKS project in New Delhi, India on 19th March 2018 hosted by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The purpose of the workshop was to inform Indian stakeholders and experts of the research conducted under CD-LINKS and to benefit from the knowledge and insights of the participants and ensure that the research is relevant for Indian decision makers.

Welcome and introduction from Keywan Riahi, IIASA – photo credit/ TERI

CD-LINKS is an evidence-based project that examines policy successes and failures to inform integrated assessment modelling at the international and national level. For example, examining the success of rural electrification and national solar policies in India has been one aspect covered by the CD-LINKS project. One important question central to the CD-LINKS project and of  relevance to India is how trade-offs between climate policy and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) can be managed.

Workshop audience during first question and answer session – photo credit/ TERI

The design of inclusive climate policies is of importance as they should, in addition to the primary goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, shield the poor from adverse effects due to increasing energy and food prices. India is an important country for climate mitigation because the demand for energy services is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decades and investment patterns need to change fundamentally compared to the current situation. For example, greater investments should be directed to low-carbon electricity generation and transmission system enhancements (e.g., electrical storage to integrate variable renewable sources), with reductions in fossil fuel, in particular coal-related, investments.

The first session of the workshop featured presentations by policy-makers and national modelling teams, including the results of the Indian researchers contributing to the CD-LINKS project. The Director General of TERI, Ajay Mathur provided an opening statement, during which he explained that the energy infrastructure of India is yet to be built, thereby presenting the opportunity for this new infrastructure to be chosen in a manner that minimises carbon emissions. It was noted by Prodipto Ghosh, one of the advisers of the CD-LINKS project, that India faces huge development challenges, with half the population below the age of 25 and India’s per capita energy consumption well below the world average.

Indian farmer digging in front of sprinklers/ shutterstock

During the presentation on the main challenges of India: government/ policymaker perspective by NITI Aayog’s RP Gupta, it was noted that the electricity subsidies in the agricultural sector lead to overexploitation of scarce water resources for irrigation, because of no scarcity signal reaching farmers. During the question and answer session there were discussions on the merits of managing solar energy in India via grid integration or off-grid including storage, and the political ramifications of various policies, such as the management of electricity subsidies in the farming region of the Punjab state.

Presentations were then given by representatives of the Indian integrated assessment modelling teams, Ritu Mathur, TERI and Saritha Sudharmma Vishwanathan, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM). The objectives of their modelling work were to explore national Indian transformative strategies for addressing climate change, to synergise climate actions with SDGs, and to contribute to the development of coherent national and global low carbon development pathways within the CD-LINKS project.

Panellist and presenter Saritha Sudharmma Vishwanathan, IIM – photo credit/ TERI

Several different scenarios were modelled with numerous insights highlighted during the presentations, such as the need for renewable electricity storage to be developed into a viable technology, or the important role for energy efficiency. During the question and answer session a discussion on the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and the experience with widespread deployment of CNG in Delhi was discussed; a question was also posed on the inclusion of land-use and non-CO2 gases in IIM’s analysis, which was found to be the plan for the next phase of modelling.

The second session of the workshop was a series of panel discussions, titled ‘From Paris to the SDGs in India and globally – How can science contribute?’ With the first part of the discussions focusing on climate, energy, air pollution and the second part on energy-water nexus, energy access and food security. Each panellist gave a five minute teaser statement on various topical areas.

Hindu God Ganesha decorated with LED bulbs/ shutterstock

During the first panel Ajay Shankar, TERI, presented India’s climate policy process and international role, during which the need to focus on energy efficiency, such as the high penetration of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), was emphasised. Speaking also on energy efficiency, Abhay Bakre, from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, noted the lack of funding in India to address this challenge. It was also emphasised the need for a national roadmap as targets/ goals only provide guidance on what needs to be done. Chintan Shah from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) claimed that India is the most cost-effective country in the world to produce renewables. It was stressed again that it is necessary to reduce the demand for electricity by advocating energy efficiency and to decarbonise the supply side by promoting, in particular, renewables. The close relationship that climate change has with air pollution was noted by Sumit Sharma from TERI. In India there are more than 200 air quality measuring stations, with most exceeding national standards, which has a substantial impact on health. Climate policies will beneficially affect air pollution, and this needs to be taken into consideration when designing policy.

Following the five minute teaser statements from presenters, a question and answer session took place that included a discussion on the planned coal power plants in India and the concern for power cuts being avoided. A question was also posed as to why electrical vehicle penetration is low in India, with an observation from a panellist member that successful policies are when the private sector participate and the government also creates suitable conditions for the policy.

The second panel discussion covered the energy-water nexus, energy access and food security, with opening remarks from the panel’s moderator Anil Jain, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Household energy access was the first short teaser statement topic from Purnamita Dasgupta, Institute of Economic Growth. Biomass has an important role particularly in rural areas of India, as it is the major energy source for the majority of households (e.g. cooking or heat).A need to change from biomass to other more efficient energy sources such as kerosene or liquefied petroleum gas is preferable not only from the climate change perspective, but also from the health perspective due to the indoor air pollution. It was emphasised that households do engage and are willing to make a change, but a different approach is needed to ensure that the change from biomass is not just temporary and endures over the long term.

Audience members posing questions – photo credit/ TERI

Kirit Parikh from IRADe presented on water availability and agriculture, posing the question ‘what can be done to help make groundwater use sustainable?’  Water availability is insufficient for what is needed for the Indian population, agriculture, or industry. Agriculture is the largest water-consuming sector, with the majority of water for irrigation obtained from groundwater sources. The tragedy of the commons ensues, as groundwater is an essentially unregulated resource in India. Excessive pumping of water for use in irrigation is a result of electricity provided at a subsidised rate, thus resulting in a lack of incentives to reduce water use.

It was also noted in the presentation that the Ganges is heavily polluted, with fertiliser and pesticide run off contributing to water pollution. Kirit Parikh emphasised the need to improve water quality, but questioned how this could be achieved in India. The final presentation in this panel was by Vaibhav Chaturvedi, CEEW. Reiterating the issues related to water, it was stated that India is a water-scarce nation, with an increase in water usage expected in the power sector, with Vaibhav Chaturvedi questioning how the energy sector will be when water is a constraint.

Morning prayers at the Ganges River bank, Varanasi India/ shutterstock

Dry cooling could be an option that India pursues, similar to what China has undertaken in its water-scarce regions. However, the cost increases are estimated to be in the range of 20%, resulting in no action being taken in India. A question and answer session followed the panel presentations, during which it was noted that dry cooling is possible in China as the ambient air temperature is lower, which is not the case in India; there was also concern as to how interest in the energy supply can be encouraged in Indian farmers.

The findings of the stakeholder and expert workshop emphasised the importance of examining climate change as part of the boarder picture, as development constraints also need to be considered when designing policies. The CD-LINKS project has several papers under development analysing climate change and the SDGs that feature India in the analysis. The feedback from the workshop in Delhi has contributed to an improved understanding of the nuances of Indian policy making and the particular local issues encountered when addressing climate change, along with the impact this can have on other SDGs; as demonstrated by the discussion on agriculture management and its relationship with electrical subsidies. These findings and feedback from the workshop will further contribute to the work of the CD-LINKS project and will be taken into consideration in its next phase.

This report is available to download as a PDF from here and the agenda is available here.

CD-LINKS side event at UNFCCC SBSTA 2018

On Thursday 3rd May 18:30-20:00 CD-LINKS will be holding a side event at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 48th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 48).

Combining analysis from the COMMIT and CD-LINKS projects, and the work of NewClimate Institute on the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions, the event is an opportunity to discuss with negotiators and reflect on credible low-emission pathways.

The event is titled ‘Towards long-term national scenarios: Modelling meets policy’.

Geographical reach of CD-LINKS project, created with mapchart.net

SBSTA is one of two permanent subsidiary bodies of the UNFCCC. It provides timely information and advice on scientific and technological matters, with key areas including:

SBSTA 48 will take place from 30 April to 10 May 2018, in Bonn, Germany, with the side event taking place in the Berlin Room. The draft agenda for the event is available from here.

CD-LINKS at COP23

The CD-LINKS project had a busy two weeks during the 2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23), with a total of six activities. Two official CD-LINKS side events took place in the Bonn Zone, two presentations were given at separate events at the World Wide Fund for Nature pavilion, one side event was held in the Interconnections Zone hosted by the German Development Institute; in addition, prior to the opening of COP23 insights from the CD-LINKS project were presented at a plenary discussion for an event hosted at the German Development Institute titled ‘Climate Action and Human Wellbeing at a Crossroads: Historical Transformation or Backlash?’

Background

Two significant agreements were formulated in 2015: the Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit. The transformation by countries to low a carbon future in order to meet the 1.5 or 2°C temperature targets outlined in the Paris Agreement is expected to have significant impact on the SDGs. The SDGs are inherently connected, and of paramount importance for climate policy. Understanding how climate policy will influence the other SDGs is critical to incentivise further action and to understand how climate policy trade-offs can be avoided. For example, actions taken to reduce climate pollutants from transport or agriculture could help reduce global warming and would also have a positive effect on SDG 3 good health and well-being, because of the harmful effects of climate pollutants to public health. However, some climate change mitigation policies may need large-scale land based measures such as bioenergy production or afforestation that could have a negative impact on SDG 2 zero hunger because of the implications for food security.

Interconnections Zone, 13 November © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik

To maximize synergies between the two agreements made in 2015 and to support national policy making within climate and development issues, interactions between climate policies and the SDGs need to be better understood. The research project CD-LINKS brings together a consortium of 19 leading international research organizations to explore national and global climate transformation strategies and their linkages to a range of SDGs. The project is financed by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.

Crossroads, 4 November © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik

CD-LINKS at COP23

Each of the three CD-LINKS side events during COP23 presented the most recent outcomes of the CD-LINKS project and examined the links between climate and development. The scientists of the CD-LINKS project made comparisons of the strategies to reach the 1.5 and 2°C goals for key countries like Brazil, China, the European Union, and India, along with a comparison of the current ambition level of the Nationally Determined Contributions, which are the efforts by each country to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement in reducing national emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Interconnections Zone, 13 November © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik

There were animated and informative dialogues that took place following the presentations, with panel discussions, along with question and answer sessions with the audience. The CD-LINKS side event hosted at the Interconnections Zone benefited from panel members from the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the European Commission who were able to provide the policymakers’ perspective. Of particular concern was what actions need to be taken now in order to ensure deeper emission reductions in the future, and what the social dimensions of decarbonization are.

For Brazil’s transition to low carbon the role of biofuels and carbon capture and storage was shown to be important, along with an increase in electrification of the transport sector. It was also noted that land use change would need to be managed to allow for the increase in crops for biofuels and enabling afforestation. For India there is a need to increase access to electricity, as 304 million people currently are without access, with the Indian government establishing a target of 100% village electrification by 2019. This will need to be achieved in parallel while significant changes are made to India’s power sector that provides this electricity, such as the retiring of old and inefficient coal power plants, replacing them with clean coal technologies and other low carbon technologies such as solar, wind or nuclear. An important role is also attributed to actions to improve energy efficiency in buildings such as changing to light-emitting diode (LED) light sources and energy efficient air conditioners.

The CD-LINKS project also includes global analysis by integrated assessment models that determine whether current policies are on-track to reducing greenhouse gases in line with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The analysis shows that the policies fall short of the NDCs and have also calculated how much more reductions are needed to meet the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 or 2°C. The findings show that further strengthening is needed in all countries, with some countries being close to meeting their NDCs. However, these same countries would then have to make significant increases in effort (i.e. ratcheting up the ambition level of their NDCs) to enable them to meet the Paris Agreement targets. The CD-LINKS project has provided a wide range of outcomes useful in this stocktaking process.

Highlights of the discussions between the 270 guests at the German Development Institute’s Crossroads event included the topics global cooperation and multilateralism, as well as different sectors of the transformation towards sustainability (e.g. mobility, digitisation, financing the transformation and agriculture). The conclusions of the conference are summarised in a Memorandum titled: ‘The Climate – Justice – Cooperation Nexus: 10 Cornerstones of the Great Transformation towards Sustainability’.

Presentations during the three CD-LINKS COP23 side events

Monday 6th November, Climate & Development Links: National decarbonization pathways toward 1.5 & 2°C and impacts on SDGs, Bonn Zone

  • Introduction – Keywan Riahi, IIASA
  • Informing the global stock-take: National midcentury strategies and global 1.5°C and well below 2°C pathways – Elmar Kriegler, PIK
  • Sustainable development implications of global pathways and national mid-century strategies – Volker Krey, IIASA
  • Mid-century decarbonisation pathway for the E.U. – Zoi Vrontisi, ICCS
  • Mid-century decarbonisation pathway for China – Sha Fu, NCSC

Monday 13th November, Ratcheting up nationally determined contributions (NDCs): Consistent national roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C, German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

  • Introduction – Keywan Riahi, IIASA
  • Burden-sharing, regional budgets and dialogue process – Detlef Van Vuuren, PBL
  • Sustainable development implications of the transformation pathways – Volker Krey, IIASA
  • Policy perspective on the NDCs – Niklas Höhne, WU
  • National transformation pathways: case of Brazil – Roberto Schaeffer, COPPE
  • National transformation pathways: case of India – Amit Garg, IIMA
  • Policy perspective – panelist discussion – Tom van Ierland, EC and Guido Schmidt-Traub, UNSDSN

Wednesday 15th November, 1.5 & 2°C strategies, SDGs and green growth – EU Research Projects CD-LINKS and GREEN-WIN, EU Pavilion

  • Introduction – Volker Krey, IIASA
  • National and global decarbonization pathways – Elmar Kriegler, PIK
  • Climate policies and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Volker Krey, IIASA
  • Reconciling climate and economic goals through green-growth and green-business models – Jochen Hinkel, GCF
  • Climate clubs and the macro-economic benefits of international cooperation – Antoine Mandel, Paris School of Economics

The three side events were in partnership with:

COP23 side event – 15 November – 1.5 & 2°C strategies, SDGs and green growth – EU Research Projects CD-LINKS and GREEN-WIN

Based on two EU-funded projects CD-LINKS and GREEN-WIN, the latest findings for ratcheting up the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) toward the 1.5 & 2°C goals from the Paris Agreement and green-economy strategies for aligning economic with climate goals will be presented in a side event at the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 23, 6-17 November 2017).

The side-event is one of three CD-LINKS events taking place at COP 23. This event titled 1.5 & 2°C strategies, SDGs and green growth – EU Research Projects CD-LINKS and GREEN-WIN highlights synergies & trade-offs with regards to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), investigates green growth strategies induced through alternative climate financing schemes, and presents local green economy business models that reconcile revenue generation with the SDGs.

Lijiang China – Shutterstock ©

The side-event will feature four thematic presentations followed by a panel discussion. the agenda is available from here.

Time and date: 15:15-16:30 on 15 November

Location: EU pavilion, Bonn Zone, COP23, Germany

For more information, contact: cd-links.secretariat(@)iiasa.ac.at.

Side event at COP23 – 6 November 2017 – National decarbonization pathways toward 1.5 & 2°C and impacts on SDGs

CD-LINKS will be holding a side event at the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 23, 6-17 November 2017).

The latest findings on ratcheting up the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) toward the 1.5 and 2°C goals of the Paris Agreement and implications for sustainable development will be presented in the event titled Climate & Development Links: National decarbonization pathways toward 1.5 & 2°C and impacts on SDGs.

During the event the scientists of the project will compare strategies to reach the 1.5 and 2°C goals for key countries like Brazil, China, the European Union, and India.

View of Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil – shutterstock ©

The agenda and announcement are available to download.

The event will be in partnership with:

Time and date: 15:00-16:30 on 6 November 2017

Location: Meeting room 12, Bonn Zone, COP23, Germany

For more information, contact: cd-links.secretariat(@)iiasa.ac.at.

 

Side event at COP23 – 13 November – National roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C

The German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) will be hosting a CD-LINKS side-event at the Interconnections Zone during the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 23, 6-17 November 2017).

The Interconnections Zone will facilitate dialogue towards more integrated and balanced development, which would both deliver on the 2030 Agenda (including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Financing for Development Process) and the Paris Climate Agreement. As a transdisciplinary space, it welcomes civil society, researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders to explore interconnections, and possible synergies, between climate change and sustainable development.

© Shutterstock

The title of the CD-LINKS side event is: Ratcheting up nationally determined contributions (NDCs): Consistent national roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C. The event will be co-organised with 4 of the 19 CD-LINKS partners:

The event will take place on Monday 13 November from 14:00-16:00 and a short description of the side-event is below. For more information, contact: cd-links.secretariat(@)iiasa.ac.at.

The agenda of the side event is available from here.

Two significant agreements were formulated in 2015: the Paris Agreement within the UNFCCC and the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit.

The transformation towards low carbon pathways is expected to have notable impacts on the development goals. The goals that could be affected either positively or negatively include, poverty reduction and reducing inequalities (SDGs 1, 10, 5), food security (SDG 2), health issues (SDG 3), water availability (SDG 6), energy access and energy poverty (SDG 7), economic growth and employment (SDG 8), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9) and climate action (SDG 13).

To maximize synergies between the two agreements and to support national policy making within climate and development issues, interactions between climate policies and the SDGs need to be better understood. The research project ‘Linking Climate and Development Policies – Leveraging International Networks and Knowledge Sharing’ (CD-LINKS) brings together a consortium of 19 leading international research organizations to explore national and global climate transformation strategies and their linkages to a range of SDGs. The project is financed by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.

This side event will introduce the most recent outcomes of the CD-LINKS project. The strategies required to reach the 1.5 and 2°C targets will be presented along with a comparison of the current ambition level of the Nationally Determined Contributions. The implications of the low carbon transformation pathways for the SDGs will be assessed and presented, such as for poverty, food security, water, biodiversity, air pollution and health. Representatives of the Indian and Brazilian partners of the project will also present country-level strategies for climate transformation pathways that support the global target of staying well below 2°C, together with initial results on their impact on SDGs.

CD-LINKS at the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA)

On 10 May the CD-LINKS project was presented at a poster session of the 9th annual meeting of the SBSTA Research Dialogue. The purpose of the research dialogue is to collaborate with invited research programmes and organisations to inform the SBSTA of developments in research activities relevant to the needs of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

A side event co-hosted by IIASA and IDDRI ‘Ratcheting up nationally determined contributions (NDCs): Consistent national roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C’ was also held at the SBSTA on 13 May. The side event was chaired by Keywan Riahi and Valentina Bosetti and highlighted the collaboration of the 19 institutes from Europe, Asia and the Americas brought together by the CD-LINKS project.

©ShutterStock

During the side event, the viable strategies for ratcheting up the NDCs and their implications for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were presented. The SDG assessments were presented by Volker Krey, who stated during the event that climate and development agendas are inextricably linked: the transformation towards a low carbon world is expected to have notable impacts on other development goals. Poverty reduction and reducing inequalities (SDGs 1, 10, 5), food security (SDG 2), health issues (SDG 3), water availability (SDG6), energy poverty (SDG 7), economic growth, innovation and employment (SDG 8, 9) can be linked, in either reinforcing or counteracting ways, to climate action (SDG 13).

The global transformation pathways based on the climate policy objectives under the Paris Agreement and the NDCs was presented by Detlef Van Vuuren. A policy perspective on the NDCs and the national transformation pathways: case of China was presented by Niklas Höhne, Jiang Kejun and Chen Wenying. The national transformation pathways: case of India and Brazil was presented by Ritu Mathur and Roberto Schaeffer.

Based on an analysis of the NDCs and pathways to achieve the 1.5 and 2°C targets, the implications for achieving the SDGs, and how a more stringent climate action could foster a transformation with positive feedbacks was analysed. This analysis aims at informing the 2018 facilitative dialogue under the Paris Agreement and indicates that:

  • Climate change mitigation generates significant synergies with air quality improvements, thus reducing negative health impacts of air pollution (SDG 3).
  • Inclusive development and climate policies are key to reduce risk of hunger for simultaneous achievement of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
  • Options are available to pursue stringent climate mitigation without increasing water demand (SDG 6), e.g. through water-efficient cooling technologies or structural change in power generation, or by reducing energy demand.
  • Inclusive policies which combine target emission reductions while also supporting low income households, allow stringent climate protection without deteriorating access to clean energy services (SDG 7).

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A discussion was held as part of the side event, which included an observation that a commitment regarding the SDGs is missing, as there is only broad monitoring of the NDCs currently in place. It was proposed that NDCs for SDGs are needed to help make the SDGs tangible and to also facilitate a connection between the SDGs and climate action. For example, the decision to build a cement factory in Africa would be unacceptable purely from a climate perspective, but would be acceptable from a development perspective.