UN Climate Change News, 9 October 2020 - The Collaborative Instruments for Ambitious Climate Action (CiACA) workstream of the UNFCCC  concluded the first series of regional dialogues on carbon pricing (REdiCAP) in 5 regions and sub-regions: Latin America, Caribbean, West Africa, East and Southern Africa and South East Asia.

The dialogues came at a crucial time with Parties committed to revising their national climate action plans, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and willing to explore economic instruments to increase their ambition to tackle climate change.

The main objective of the events, conducted in a virtual format, was to create a platform to provide an opportunity for peer learning to countries in the region that have an interest in carbon pricing instruments, which are crucial to help countries green their economies.

Targeted participants were government officials at decision-making level in key ministries of finance, treasury, environment and climate change. In order to create a “safe space” for countries to share their experiences and lessons learnt in an open and transparent matter, the dialogues were facilitated by moderators and technical discussions were led by regional experts.

Participants made important recommendations for the way forward, including the institutionalization of the platforms to allow for a regular fruitful exchange of experience and mutual learning.

There was a general consensus that more frequent, regular and dedicated opportunities to  update neighboring countries on progress and challenges in promoting the adoption of carbon pricing instruments can assist in identifying successful strategies and replicate, where possible, efficient approaches.

Progress is for example being made in countries such as Senegal, where relevant economic assessment are currently being conducted to measure the impact of a carbon tax in the cement sector, or in Thailand where a national Emission  Trading  Scheme is being explored.

Many countries mentioned the need to specifically target private sector stakeholders from the very initial stages of consideration of plans and projects. 

Several countries also expressed interest in receiving the support provided through the CiACA initiative to explore the adoption of carbon pricing instruments, including Barbados, Burundi, Cameroon, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vietnam.

 Once the request for support is formalized, the CiACA team through the RCCs can assist the targeted institutions in facilitating consultations with key stakeholder as well as in providing  technical assistance to conduct analysis and assessments to identify the most adequate economic instruments that can be adopted by the country to contribute to achieving a low carbon future.

The five dialogues were conducted in close partnership with regional entities that have been collaborating for the implementation of the CiACA work programme, including MEXICO2 for the Latin America and Caribbean, GIZ and the World Bank for Africa, and the Asian Development Bank (whose Vice president inaugurated the dialogue for Asia Pacific) , UN Environment  and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UN ESCAP)  for South East Asia. They were attended by over 100 country representatives, including COP negotiators, directors in the ministries of environment and climate change, and UNFCCC national focal points.

Source：UN

Author：UN

Date：October 9, 2020