1887

OECD/IEA Climate Change Expert Group Papers

This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected papers on climate change issues that have been prepared for the OECD/IEA Climate Change Expert Group (CCXG). The CCXG (formerly called the Annex I Expert Group) is a group of government delegates from OECD and other industrialised countries. The aim of the group is to promote dialogue and enhance understanding on technical issues in the international climate change negotiations. CCXG papers are developed in consultation with experts from a wide range of developed and developing countries, including those participating in CCXG Global Forums.

The full papers are generally available only in English.

The opinions expressed in these papers are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OECD, the IEA or their member countries, or the endorsement of any approach described therein.

English

Establishing Cycles for Nationally Determined Mitigation Contributions or Commitments

Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are currently negotiating a climate change agreement scheduled for adoption at the 21st Conference of the Parties in December 2015. At the centre of the new agreement are nationally determined contributions (NDCs). These are the objectives and actions relating to mitigation or other aspects of climate change responses that countries are willing to put forward internationally and be bound by in some way. This paper seeks to clarify and discuss ideas contained in the draft agreement and draft decision text for the 2015 agreement that may serve to enhance the dynamism and ambition of nationally determined mitigation contributions or commitments (NDMCs). Provisions for ambition and dynamism are included in the procedures framing NDMCs, namely common, regular communications and the requirement that NDMCs become more ambitious over time. Several multilateral processes are also proposed, which might influence the ambition of NDMCs in terms of their content and implementation. The paper discusses proposals for a clarification exercise, a regular global stocktake, and individual assessment and review processes contained with the transparency system and a potential facilitative compliance and implementation system. There are implementation challenges associated with all proposals, though overall these could encourage countries to maximise effort, and provide an opportunity for countries to revise and update their contributions and commitments at regular intervals.

English

Keywords: climate change, mitigation, UNFCCC, 2015 agreement, greenhouse gas
JEL: Q58: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Environmental Economics: Government Policy; H87: Public Economics / Miscellaneous Issues / International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods; Q56: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth; F53: International Economics / International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy / International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations; Q54: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming
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