Low emission action for sustainable development: Latest recommended resources – June 2018

In this first of a series, the LEDS GP, Initiative for Climate Action Transparency, UNEP DTU, NewClimate Institute, and Center for Climate Strategies share useful resources on how to integrate climate and development goals in practice – and navigate the options and trade-offs.

Services to support integrated climate and development actions

Remote Expert Assistance for LEDS (REAL): The LEDS GP REAL service is available to provide up to 40 hours of remote support on linking sustainable development goals with climate action. Example assistance provided on this topic can include guidance on integrating sustainable development goals with climate plans such as NDCs and LEDS, and support for applying specific impact assessment tools and methodologies to inform climate action such as the ICAT guidance highlighted below, or the International Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (I-JEDI) tool developed by USAID. Submit a request for assistance.

Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT): ICAT aims to support transparency in reporting on the impacts of climate policies and actions. One component of this work is a series of guidance documents, which provides methods for assessing the impacts of policies and actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, achieve sustainable development outcomes and drive transformational change. The ICAT Guidance includes an Introductory Guide to the series of ten guidance documents. The program welcomes expressions of interest to apply the ICAT Guidance, particularly the Sustainable Development and Transformational Change guidance looking at contributions of mitigation actions to NDC and SDG goals. The guidance will be revised based on country case studies and the practical experience gained. If you are interested in applying the ICAT Guidance in your country please contact Karen Holm Olsen: kaol@dtu.dk or Ranping Song: RSong@wri.org

Resources available to support integrated climate and development actions

LEDS GP resource guides: The Partnership provides a range of resources on assessing the sustainable development potential of low emission actions. These include succinct policy briefs on how low emission measures can:

The Development Impact Assessment toolkit provides users with an interactive platform that allows them to filter for tools and approaches to identify the social, economic and environmental impacts of low emission actions – depending on their circumstances.

Case studies explore how governments and project developers have sought to integrate development benefits in energy policies and projects – for example, the Lake Turkana wind farm project in Kenya; clean energy policy in Bangladesh and Green Cape regional development authority in South Africa. Head to the LEDS GP Benefits Working Group page to find out more.

LEDS Latin America and Caribbean’s ‘Multisolving action: Health and Climate Intersections’ webinar: This webinar presents the concept behind ‘multisolving’ actions in health and climate, building on a recent report by Climate Interactive. By leveraging cross-sectoral collaboration, it is possible to design and implement projects that improve local health, produce financial savings, and advance long-term climate goals all at once. This webinar is in Spanish; for questions, please contact the LEDS LAC Platform: info@ledslac.org

Energy-Water-Food Nexus (EWFN) Web Portal: The EWFN web portal helps to inform policy-makers from around the world about the importance, drivers, challenges, and opportunities associated with the EWFN. The goal of the web portal is to provide a single access point for high quality web-based information on the EWFN, including policy best practices, models, and tools that can be used to guide decisions addressing nexus issues.

The Employment Effects of Renewable Energy Development Assistance: This policy brief sheds light on how employment can be fostered through the provision of Official Development Assistance for energy. The paper finds that renewable energy investments generate significant direct employment opportunities, and these are far greater than those of conventional energy sources. This proven benefit is in addition to climate, environment and health benefits.

Guiding Principles and Lessons Learnt for Just Energy Transition in the Global South: This study provides an overview of the different just transition, energy transformation and climate justice discourses of the previous years and how they are ultimately reflected in the Paris Agreement. The paper shows how these discourses overlap in terms of transition narratives and policy demands.

Photo: Arne Hoel / World Bank