The regional meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Latin America aligned the region towards COP 27, with the aim of increasing ambition in times of uncertainty.
Santo Domingo, 26 July.- The EUROCLIMA+ Programme participated last week in the latest edition of the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW 2022), with the celebration of spaces for reflection, meetings and exchanges in the different formats established by the UNFCCC.
With a total of nine activities, the programme presented the accompanying action that is being developed in the region, to help advance the challenges set forth in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the 18 partner countries. The topics included some of the Programme's lines of action, as well as the work being developed at the sectoral level, notably in the area of transport and sustainable mobility.
About the Meetings
The programme's activities kicked off with the side event “NDCs as the backbone of post-COVID economic recovery in Latin America”, held in conjunction with the NDC Partnership, which allowed for the sharing of lessons learned from the region on the process of planning for green recovery and the challenges this entails. One of the main lessons learned from the session was that successful planning with a climate perspective at its core requires data for decision making, and to converge strategies with climate and economic objectives.
This was followed by the side event “Cooperation for climate action: Improving climate finance and investment in Latin America and the Caribbean”. This meeting concluded that, although there is no unequivocal answer for advancing towards climate finance adequate to the scale of the climate emergency challenge, there is a clear consensus on the unavoidable need for coordinated and cooperative work between the public sector, the private sector, academia, civil society and the active participation of the financial sector.
The Programme took advantage of the presence at LACCW 2022 to present its future roadmap, with the incorporation of the countries that make up the Caribbean region, new budget allocations and a renewed commitment to coordinated action. During the event “EUROCLIMA+: new horizons for partnerships between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean”, the Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union in the Dominican Republic, Katja Afheldt, highlighted the link between both regions, which "face the same challenges, have the same priorities and a solid network of trade agreements and partnerships". In this sense, she expressed her conviction that the alliance between Latin America and the European Union will contribute to the global challenge of climate change.
With an innovative and dynamic format, the Action Hub “ACE Learning Communities: Promoting ACE Capacities through climate competence” was also held, with the participation of representatives from the Ministries of Environment of Chile and Argentina. The workshop highlighted the strategic priority of capacity building in Climate Empowerment - Article 6 of the UNFCCC - at all levels to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The activity had, as a backdrop, the recent publication Climate Competence: a cross-cutting proposal on capacities in Action for Climate Empowerment.
Sustainable mobility played a prominent role in the EUROCLIMA+ activities. In “The role of popular transport for the zero emissions goal: case studies from Latin America and the Caribbean” it was noted that around 80% of trips in the world are made in informal and semi-informal transport systems, so it is clear that this type of transport is essential in the transition to a sustainable and low-emission transport that leaves no one behind, especially for the most vulnerable populations. As a case study, the EUROCLIMA+ programme's electric tuc tuc project in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala was presented.
In the face of growing transport emissions in the region, the event "Meeting National Climate Ambition in Latin America and the Caribbean: Improving the Coherence of NDCs and National and Subnational Transport Plans" highlighted climate actions focused on this sector with the objective that countries contribute to raising the climate ambitions of Nationally Determined Contributions and Long-Term Strategies. An example of this is Uruguay’s National Policy on Sustainable Urban Mobility, which was presented as a benchmark of a multi-sectoral and multi-level process that aligns with the country's climate commitments.
The event “Social price of carbon and evaluation of public investment: applications in Latin American and Caribbean countries” analysed the challenge of disseminating and communicating the importance of implementing this instrument within the ministries of economy and finance and sectoral institutions that present public investment projects. The social price of carbon is of utmost importance for the fulfilment of NDC commitments and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The regional dialogue “Consistency and articulation between NDCs and LTS, an opportunity for climate policy coherence in Latin America and the Caribbean” highlighted the need to promote immediate action towards fulfilment of the NDCs, which will only be effective if it includes the whole of society in its diversity, aligned with the long-term path defined by the countries towards carbon neutrality and long-term resilience. In particular, in the field of adaptation, methodologies used by some countries to incorporate climate risk in the evaluation of public investment were presented, and the need to establish a taxonomy to help classify investment projects as green or blue was highlighted.
Finally, the side event "Transforming development and business: tools to align public and private climate strategies", organised jointly with LEDS LAC and the INCAE Business School, presented experiences from Latin American countries in the development of processes and tools to align business strategies with national and global climate objectives, and their contribution to the transformation of business models and development orientation of the countries. In the meeting they discussed the factors that have enabled these processes, the challenges and opportunities for replication, from the perspective of government, the private sector and international cooperation. In addition, a practical guide for aligning private sector climate action with national strategies and objectives was presented, which has been formulated with input from members of the Community of Practice on Public-Private Articulation for Climate Action ArticuLAC, a joint initiative of the EUROCLIMA+ programme, the LEDS LAC Platform and the INCAE Business School.
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The Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW 2022) provided an opportunity to advance climate action, in line with regional priorities and the outcomes of COP26. As the second of the regional Climate Weeks ahead of COP27, to be held in November in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), this event is key to promoting regional exchange and collaboration among stakeholders.
In this regard, the EUROCLIMA+ programme will continue to foster the partnership between Latin America and Europe to address the challenges of climate change and increase climate ambitions in the region.
About EUROCLIMA+
EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union to promote environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient development in 18 Latin American countries, in particular for the benefit of the most vulnerable populations. The Programme is implemented under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), and UN Environment.
