Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
11/20/2015
Countries around the world are already implementing policies and measures that will aid them in reaching their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the climate agreement due to be finalized next month in Paris, according to a new report from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The INDCs are commitments pledged by each UNFCCC member state that will comprise the bulk of the upcoming climate agreement. These commitments have been developed on a national level in an effort to ensure countries are not being asked to contribute more than possible for their individual circumstances.
The report supports the fact that countries can implement their INDCs and that several are already beginning to do so, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said this week Wednesday at a press briefing. “This begins to show that it is possible to implement these policies and measures and furthermore that many of them are already under way and already having very specific results.”
The report notes, for example, efforts to deploy carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) in several different countries. The United Kingdom has allocated £1 billion to support a yet-unchosen commercial-scale CCS project, and South Africa has begun developing and implementing a national CCS road map.
The report highlights six key messages. First, that enhanced action is urgently needed due to the shortfall of the current INDCs to meet the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees. However, as the report’s second key message notes, there are solutions to achieving the 2-degree goal. “To address the emissions gap, there is a range of policies, measures and actions that Parties could replicate and scale up now as part of their efforts to accelerate pre-2020 mitigation action,” the report says. “Parties have identified, through the technical examination process under the UNFCCC, six thematic areas with high mitigation potential, opportunities for action and various co-benefits, namely renewable energy, energy efficiency, the urban environment (including transport), carbon capture, use and storage, methane and other non-CO2 GHGs and land use.”
The report also stresses a need for: leadership and a willingness to act to overcome barriers; financial support, technology transfers, and capacity building; a cooperative initiative to mobilize climate action across a range of stakeholders; and the use of the UNFCCC’s potential to play a “catalytic role in helping countries overcome barriers and realize their mitigation potential.”
The document highlights the mitigation potential of CCUS, ranking it alongside energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other non-fossil-fuel energy sources as a key element of the transition to a low-emissions future.
“Not only does CCUS offer the potential to capture emissions from the power sector but it could play a wider role in reducing the GHG emissions from industries with significant process emissions, such as chemicals, cement and steel production, and agricultural processing,” the report says. “In addition, CCUS can assist countries that currently heavily rely on fossil fuels to make the transition to low-emission fuel sources while limiting the disruption to the local economy and employment.”
