Tuesday, 2 April 2019

2:15 PM - 3:45 PM

UN City Copenhagen

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Official meeting

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Biographies

Interactive discussions around country cases showcasing integration of climate objectives and a range of SDGs through national policies, strategies and programmes.

Moderator:

Mr. Henning Wuester, Director, Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) Director

Panel

• Ms. Susan Gardner, Director, Ecosystems Division, UN Environment
• Ms. Karen Holm Olsen, Senior Researcher, UNEP DTU Partnership
• Mr. Daniele Violetti, Director, UNFCCC
• Mr. Ayman Cherkaoui, Coordinator, Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection

Context

Transparency and reporting to achieve the global goals for climate and sustainable development as agreed in 2015 in the Paris Agreement (PA) and the 2030 Agenda is the basis for tracking progress at all levels of society. Integrated assessment of climate and development impacts for a transformational change to sustainability and a 1.5-2°C world (ICAT 2018) can facilitate a just transition, particularly important for the most carbon-locked in countries.

Since 2015 research and policy is growing rapidly on the interlinked nature of sustainable development and climate change. Knowledge on the interlinkages creates awareness of synergies (such as positive health impacts of mitigation actions) and negative trade-offs (such as the loss of jobs and investment in high-carbon industries). Assessment of the interlinkages between Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) can enable enhanced ambition of policies and actions, provided the co-benefits are promoted and negative impacts minimized.

This session will explore and discuss, how transparency can help promote synergies and overcome barriers. Strengthened and coordinated reporting and tracking of progress for interlinked climate and development goals at global and national levels are the key to unlocking effective policy making. The session will also discuss country experiences with reporting on both SDG and climate progress and reflect on the needs of developing countries for international support to strengthen the national institutional frameworks and sectoral data collection and reporting structures.

Proposed guiding questions

• How are synergies for integrated NDC-SDG tracking of progress, data sharing and reporting encouraged through the reporting frameworks of the climate change and the SDG processes?
• What are the main challenges institutionally and practically to enable that synergies for integrated NDC-SDG reporting and tracking progress are realised?
• How can integrated reporting and tracking of progress for NDCs and SDGs towards the global goals inform policy making at global level?
• How do national MRV/transparency systems for tracking progress of NDCs and national statistical offices responsible for monitoring SDGs enable linkages between NDC and SDG reporting and tracking of progress?
• What are the opportunities for synergies in data collection, analysis and harmonized reporting and tracking of progress for NDCs and SDGs? What are the main challenges institutionally and practically to enable that synergies are realised?
• What are the main benefits of such integration? How can integrated reporting and tracking of progress for NDCs and SDGs towards the global goals inform policy making at national and sub-national levels?
• To what extent are international tools and guidance such as ICAT methodologies for impact assessment of policies and actions helpful to countries?
• What are the three most important implementation steps at national level to ensure synergies for inter-linked reporting and tracking progress of NDCs and SDGs?
• How can international support providers such as ICAT best support countries with capacity building, tools and approaches to strengthen integrated NDC-SDG tracking of progress and reporting?
• How can the UN and its agencies encourage that interlinked climate and sustainable development reporting and tracking progress is institutionalized in daily routines for data collection and monitoring?