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A new report examines the options for assessment and review of Parties’ contributions to ensure they are aligned with mutually agreed goals and principles, ensure transparency, and raise ambition over time.
In 2013, Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were invited to prepare and communicate their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) under a 2015 agreement. Assessment and review (A&R) of INDCs can help to ensure that these contributions are in line with internationally agreed objectives and principles, help establish and enhance transparency, trust and accountability between Parties, and raise ambition over time. This report examines the options for the design and organization of A&R under a 2015 agreement.
The report analyses existing review processes under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, and draws further lessons from reviews in intergovernmental processes outside of the UNFCCC, including the regimes for international trade, human rights, finance and ozone depletion. These reviews are complemented by an analysis of Parties’ views on A&R under a 2015 agreement.
The report suggests that some form of ex ante A&R of individual contributions under the UNFCCC could help ensure that contributions are ambitious and fair. Such A&R can be complemented by assessments by observer organizations and informal discussions among Parties. In addition, a periodic review of collective ambition is desirable from the perspective of environmental effectiveness, and can build on existing review processes.
Subjecting different types of contributions (beyond just mitigation) to A&R increases transparency, but might not be practical in terms of political feasibility and administrative efficiency. Yet given the emphasis placed by developing country Parties on means of implementation, some form of A&R of the delivery of means of implementation, whether in conjunction with a review of mitigation contributions or organized separately, could help forge a consensus on the 2015 agreement.
Although Parties cannot be exempted from A&R completely, requiring less scrutiny of the contributions of some smaller and poorer Parties (e.g. Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States) would reduce administrative burdens and could induce further participation.
The importance of domestic politics in developing INDCs points to the need for clarifying and enhancing the role of non-governmental actors in A&R. Involving such actors can prove particularly valuable in the absence of a formal assessment of individual INDCs, and can further strengthen A&R of implementation of the contributions.
Read the report (external link to Nordic Council of Ministers)
Read a policy brief summarizing the findings (external link to Nordic Council of Ministers)
Other publication / Read an in-depth assessment of transboundary climate risks to agriculture, food security, trade and infrastructure, and ecosystems on the island of Ireland.
Feature / Explore how to build climate resilience through evidence-based policy with Pichamon Yeophantong on SEI Asia’s podcast, Environment and Policy in Asia.
Journal article / This research proposes a framework for facilitating the identification and selection of responses to cross-border climate impacts.
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