The Climate Action Capacity Building Process, organized by Fundación Avina and the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC), in partnership with several Latin American organizations, seeks to strengthen the capacities and means of implementation of climate action in the region.
Submission to the UNFCCC on non-Party stakeholder engagement
Galvanizing the Groundswell of Climate Actions welcomes the opportunity to share our views on opportunities to further enhance the effective engagement of non-Party stakeholders. The wide spectrum of non-Party stakeholders play a number of important roles in the UNFCCC process and addressing climate change more broadly. Encouraging effective participation by non-Party stakeholders will support implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Memorandum: How can Funders Accelerate Global Climate Action to 2018 and 2020?
This memo takes stock of the current state of climate action by sub- and non-state actors, focusing on efforts to orchestrate a groundswell of action in support of the UNFCCC process. It aims to give public and private funders an overview of the ‘ecosystem’ of actors and institutions around these efforts to inform funding strategies for the 2017-2020 timeframe in order to strengthen sub- and non-state climate action.
Next Steps for Global Climate Action
Global Climate Action is entering a critical period in 2017-2018 to deliver and increase climate action as we move toward a 2018 inflection point, and in light of political uncertainty. Galvanizing the Groundswell of Climate Action (GGCA) has compiled this discussion document as a way to advance the conversation. We offer some specific thoughts on who can do what in an effort to make the discussion very concrete, but these are of course intended just as suggestions and invitations for discussion.
Strategy Meeting: Long-Term Strategy to 2018
On November 18, 2016, on the margins of COP22, Galvanizing the Groundswell of Climate Action (GGCA), through the organisation of WRI, WWF, and NRDC, convened an informal dialogue with Parties, academic institutions, and experts engaged in various thematic areas to discuss ways to accelerate efforts by non-state actors. The purpose of this discussion was to reflect on where we want the global climate action agenda to be in 2018 and to consider the steps to be taken from now until then to realize that vision. This short summary synthesizes the discussion, carried out under Chatham House rules, from the perspective of GGCA.
Tracking and Aggregating Non-State and Sub-National Climate Action Toward 2018
On November 16, 2016, on the margins of COP22, the Yale Data-Driven Environmental Solutions Group, The Stanley Foundation, and the Galvanizing the Groundswell of Climate Action (GGCA) Coalition, in collaboration with the UNFCCC secretariat, held a workshop for data providers, analysts, and researchers. This forum focused on discussing opportunities for participants to collaborate on harmonizing and aggregating data on sub-national (i.e., city, state and region) and non-state (i.e., business, investor and civil society) climate action.
New publication assesses non-state and subnational climate contributions
In a new publication in Climate Policy, 52 non-state and subnational climate actions, announced at the 2014 UN Climate Summit, are assessed on their output performance, or the production of relevant outputs – to understand whether they are likely to deliver desired social and environmental impacts. The authors also systematically analyze to which extent climate actions are implemented across developing and developed countries.
Accelerating Non-Party Climate Action at the Regional Level: Strategies to Reduce Geographic Imbalances
On November 15, 2016 on the margins of COP22, Fundación Avina and Galvanizing the Groundswell of Climate Actions (GGCA), convened a discussion on promoting climate action at the regional level. The session provided an informal forum for participants to share thoughts and discuss priorities for promoting regional climate action and other strategies for addressing geographic imbalances in the climate action agenda. This short summary synthesizes the discussion, which was conducted under the Chatham House rule, from the perspective of GGCA.
Consultation: Ways Forward for Global Climate Action
On November 9, 2016 on the margins of COP22, Galvanizing the Groundswell of Climate Actions, with WWF, The Stanley Foundation, and WRI, convened a consultation on ways forward for Global Climate Action (GCA). The session provided an informal forum for participants to share thoughts and discuss priorities for GCA and its emerging architecture in light of the High-Level Champions’ reflection note.
Organization of Thematic Areas within the Global Climate Action Agenda
The Global Climate Action Agenda should encourage continuity with the thematic areas within the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA), but make it more flexible by allowing initiatives to self-select into multiple thematic areas. This approach can recognize and support the existing “communities” of climate action while also creating new linkages and groupings that will support and accelerate climate action. This memo presents key recommendations followed by three sections that outline the rationale and description for the grouping of actors and thematic areas. Read more here.
How Criteria Can Strengthen the Global Climate Action Agenda
To succeed in its goal of delivering urgent climate action and inspiring further ambition, the Action Agenda must be credible. A clear and robust set of principles and criteria are critical to understanding the commitments and progress of cooperative initiatives, building confidence among actors and ensuring that the Action Agenda effectively contributes to closing the mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation gaps. Read more here.
Involvement of EU actors in international climate initiatives: a closer look at national governments, cities and transport
An assessment of a selection of initiatives based on the NAZCA portal and UNEP Climate Initiatives Platform shows that EU national governments are well represented in these initiatives, but the level of participation varies between countries and is generally limited to Northwestern Member States and Italy. On the other hand, EU Cities participation is more widespread, but transparency and availability of emissions and energy data can be improved. Most transport initiatives in which EU Member States participate do not include quantifiable targets, which would be key to increase effectiveness. Read more here.
Framework and Roadmap for the Action Agenda to 2020
This document outlines the current set of institutional arrangements and processes around the Action Agenda and considers how these might evolve going forward. Particular attention is given to the objectives, functions, division of labor, and operation of the Action Agenda. Read short version here. Read detailed version here.
Ensuring Credibility of the Action Agenda through Strong Initiatives
This discussion paper considers the characteristics that apply to successful initiatives, and discusses how criteria might be developed and applied to select initiatives into different parts of the Action Agenda in a fair and transparent way. Read more.
Summary of Current Efforts to Track and Aggregate Non-State Climate Action
This brief memo summarizes the discussion of a meeting in Bonn on May 20th that brought together the data and research communities studying these efforts, and also considers how tracking and aggregation might proceed to support effective implementation and scaling up of climate action. Read more.
Framework Memo on Relation between NDCs and Cooperative, Subnational and Non-State Action
This memo considers the various relationships between NDCs and other forms of climate action, identifying opportunities for synergy. Read more.
13 Experts Call for a Comprehensive Framework for Nonstate Climate Action
As countries negotiate a new climate agreement for the United Nations climate conference in December 2015, a groundswell of climate actions is emerging as cities, regions, businesses and civil society groups act on mitigation and adaptation, independently, with each other and with national governments and international organizations. The Paris conference provides a historic opportunity to establish a framework to catalyse, support, and steer these initiatives. Without such a framework, ‘bottom-up’ climate governance runs the risk of failing to deliver meaningful results. Social science research highlights the need for a comprehensive approach that promotes ambition, experimentation and accountability, and avoids unnecessary overlaps. Read more
Strengthening Non-state Climate Action
This report provides the first progress assessment of climate actions launched at the 2014 UN Climate Summit in New York. It considers the distribution and performance of climate actions along multiple dimensions that are relevant to both mitigation and adaptation. While it is too early for a conclusive assessment of the effectiveness of climate actions, this study makes a first and indispensable step toward such an assessment. Initial findings are encouraging. One year after their launch, most climate actions have performed well in terms of producing outputs, putting them on track to implementing their commitments in the coming years. Read more
Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) Independent Assessment Report
Executive Summary
December 7, 2015
This independent report has assessed 68 initiatives under the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA). The initiatives cover all twelve LPAA themes, with about two-thirds of initiatives launched in 2014-2015. Analysts from seven research organizations and civil society groups in the Europe, India, and the United States compiled information from the LPAA organizers, public sources, and questionnaires sent to initiatives in order to perform this assessment.
The Action Agenda After Paris: Galvanizing Climate Action in 2016-2020 and beyond
Global efforts to address climate change have been energized by a groundswell of action from cities, regions, companies, and other sub- and non-state actors, acting individually and in partnership with each other, as well as with national governments, civil society groups, and international organizations. Read more.
