It is a community of state and regional governments interested in learning how to develop a transformational process or "pathway" to reduce emissions. The pathway approach gives participating members the ability to make informed choices about the best option to reduce emissions while supporting their economic and social development.
States and regions are central to addressing climate change and have set ambitious goals for themselves. However, in many cases, they lack the technical resources and expertise to plan a pathway to achieve their goals. Through these learning and training forums, states and regions will have better guidance on the essential components of a trajectory and will be able to develop the best alternative for reducing their emissions over the long term.
The states and regions that are part of this community of decarbonization trajectories come from 5 countries: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
The Decarbonization Trajectories Project aims to support state and regional governments in developing a transformational process or "trajectory" to reduce emissions.
The trajectory approach gives state and regional governments a choice, so they can make an informed decision on how best to reduce emissions while supporting economic and social development.
Our experts are working with the governments of Santa Fe (Argentina), Amazonas, Mato Grosso and São Paulo (Brazil), Quintana Roo and Querétaro (Mexico), and Madre de Dios (Peru) to reduce emissions from a range of sectors including Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) and work to support forest conservation and soil restoration.
At the end of the project, states and regions, in collaboration with their communities and businesses, will have a clearly defined trajectory for achieving effective, long-term emissions reductions. They will also have the necessary tools to monitor and, with the support of our experts, evaluate progress that will enable them to stay aligned with the trajectory.
The pillars of the trajectories are political leadership and participation. The participation of different key governmental, private sector and civil society actors in their design ensures that these processes are advanced from different fronts and continue even when there are changes in the regional or state government administration. Political leadership focuses on building support at the national, municipal and intergovernmental levels, including different departments and sectors to support the institutionalization process that will ensure the relevance of the trajectory over time.
In terms of implementation, the trajectory must be implemented in the short and medium term, some governments design plans every 5 years articulated in the long-term vision and annual targets are set to ensure that short-term plans are consistent with decarbonization to 2050.
We will discuss institutionalization in the second forum with the theme of alignment and articulation with national policies, and also in the third forum on recommendations for planning.
The type of information depends on which step of the trajectory is being completed. The most relevant information will always be that developed for the state or region. At the beginning of the trajectory design, it is important to have the state or region's greenhouse gas inventories and databases; historical series and macroeconomic and population projections; data on economic activities. Likewise, the state and national climate action plans and strategies, and the mitigation and adaptation commitments acquired by the state or region.
We will discuss the promotion of stakeholder involvement in the fourth forum. The stakeholder engagement process should be a transversal axis in the construction of the decarbonization trajectory.
This can be achieved through: dialogues, capacity building on the subject, a communication strategy that highlights the co-benefits. It is also important that decarbonization is presented and understood as a development process that will have socio-economic opportunities. Technical information to trace the trajectory will be able to measure these benefits beyond emission reductions.
It depends on the scope of this first trajectory and its development. If you are looking to update or supplement this trajectory, that first version would be the base document. We recommend completing the activities normally required to develop one from scratch, however, these steps would be completed more quickly in order to update the baseline information. This update can also be an opportunity to involve new stakeholders and include their perspectives on what changes need to be made to achieve the long-term objectives.
In addition, this concept note can be tailor-made to fill the gaps in your trajectory process, such as institutionalization, monitoring plan, etc.
The lessons learned have differed from state to state. We have worked in 6 states and regions with very different social and economic characteristics. However, some in common have been:
One way to gain political support in different sectors is to quantify the social and economic benefits. For example in health, employment, poverty reduction. In this way the positioning of the trajectory will be cross-sectoral and different sectors can internalize the actions of the trajectory into their own planning. And while a trajectory can be aligned to national objectives, it can also be more ambitious in terms of reducing ambitions. However, it is important to note that work at the regional/state level contributes to national goals.
One of the pillars of the trajectory is stakeholder participation. In this sense, as it begins to be developed, governmental and non-governmental institutions should be involved from the identification of data and information to help design the vision of the trajectory to the impact modeling process. In this way, the trajectory will be a coordinated effort that has a much better chance of receiving more funding in the implementation phase. Being involved from design will help to be involved in implementation and in turn facilitate implementation as the institutions that provided complementary information will also have an opportunity to reflect their interests in economic and social well-being.
One of the pillars of the trajectory is stakeholder participation. In this sense, as it begins to be developed, governmental and non-governmental institutions should be involved from the identification of data and information to help design the vision of the trajectory to the impact modeling process. In this way, the trajectory will be a coordinated effort that has a much better chance of receiving more funding in the implementation phase. Being involved from design will help to be involved in implementation and in turn facilitate implementation as the institutions that provided complementary information will also have an opportunity to reflect their interests in economic and social well-being.
The objectives of the trajectory should be adjusted to the long-term priorities of the different sectors of the State. It is therefore important to have the participation of representatives of the different sectors in the construction of the trajectory. The actions selected for the trajectory should have indicators and a monitoring, reporting and verification system to evaluate progress and greenhouse gas reduction. The indicators will depend on the scope of each action.
The process of identifying actions for the trajectory involves different steps, including: - Stakeholder participation: Stakeholders involved in the implementation of actions provide information to identify actions and examples of these. It identifies which actions are being implemented and which can be scaled up in ambition and which would be new. - Considering GHG, social and economic impacts, a prioritization of all these actions is made. - Having prioritized actions, an impact modeling in terms of emissions reduction and costs is done to identify the potential pace to achieve the trajectory goal. In general, it is ideal to match the trajectory with a public policy instrument. Actions that have been prioritized for the trajectory can be included in the SPCR and the ECCP, depending on the timeframe in which they are considered (short, medium and long term).
At the end of these forums we will have the concept note, which will help to start the trajectory, and identify specifically what is needed to start and share with governors, donors, etc. Also, throughout the forums we will share information relevant to the topic being addressed in each session. On the Trajectories Community website, specifically in the Materials section, you will be able to find information on trajectories and other related materials. In November we will publish a conceptual framework on the steps that should be included in a trajectory, material that will be shared with you.
It is important to highlight that the trajectory not only has impacts on GHG emissions reduction but also on sustainable economic growth. This should be an important message when sharing progress, results of the trajectory. However, this will be discussed in more detail in the fourth forum. The Climate Group is working on developing a conceptual framework on these steps, which we plan to publish in November of this year. However, much of this information can be found here: Horizon to Horizon: https://www.climateworksaustralia.org/resource/horizon-to-horizon/
For questions or comments about the project, please contact Natalie Orentlicher: NOrentlicher@TheClimateGroup.org
For questions or comments about the Community of Practice, please contact:
LEDS LAC is a network of organizations and individuals working in the promotion, design and implementation of LEDS in Latin america and the Caribbean.
