Climate objectives and commitments to achieve them: the role of international technical cooperation
Turning objectives into concrete actions
In 2015, each signatory State to the Paris Agreement made quantitative commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, materialised in the form of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
However, all States do not have the technical capacities and financial resources required to achieve these objectives. Expertise France therefore provides institutional, methodological and operational support to assist a number of partner countries in the implementation of their NDCs.
The agency is helping some fifteen countries among the most vulnerable to climate change improve their climate governance in the context of Adapt’Action, a facility launched by AFD in 2017, while via the GCCA+ project (financed by the European Union), Expertise France is contributing to regional efforts in West Africa for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, with a focus on building the capacities of regional institutions.
Promoting local initiatives
Furthermore, through the climate projects it coordinates, the agency contributes to promoting local initiatives or building innovative actions in the field of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.
For example, with the ReSEMBiD project (financed by the EU with EUR 36.7m), signed in late October, the agency will be working with 12 small Caribbean island territories to come up with concrete actions and participate in the exchange of good practices between the islands, for instance, in terms of ecosystem-based marine biodiversity conservation and adaptation.
This is also the case with the Euroclima+ programme (which is organising 2 events in the context of COP24), for which Expertise France is implementing two components with GIZ: through calls for proposals, it involves promoting innovative projects and initiatives in the sectors of “Forests, biodiversity and ecosystems” and “Resilient agricultural production”.
Objectives tested in the field
Through its knowledge of the field, Expertise France can, in turn, contribute to feeding into reflection on the objectives and strategies currently under discussion. This positioning at two levels builds a dialogue between theory and practice, which contributes to the definition of both ambitious and realistic objectives.
For example, in late November 2018, with financial support from the EU, the agency organised a reflection workshop on the sidelines of the COP14 Biodiversity, which was held in Egypt. This workshop aimed to learn lessons from both the successes and limits of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and identify possible avenues for building an ambitious and transformative agreement to conserve global biodiversity at COP15, which will be held in Beijing in 2020.