Knowledge products for holistic climate action

The new SPA “Adaptation Briefing” offers a compilation of knowledge products for guidance on effective NDC and NAP implementation.

Under the Paris Agreement, Parties agreed on a global goal on adaptation – to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change (Article 7). At the same time, the Paris Agreement acknowledged that adaptation should not be seen isolated but is instead deeply intertwined with mitigation as well as the general development efforts of countries.

The new “Adaptation Briefing: Knowledge Products on Enhancing Climate Actions” offers a comprehensive compilation of all knowledge products on adaptation that have been published or contributed to by the GIZ Support Project for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (SPA). From 2018 to 2019, the adaptation component of SPA was commissioned to elaborate a better understanding of and contribute to the ongoing international discussion on adaptation priorities. After June 2019, the work of the adaptation component was mainstreamed within the SPA project itself, with a clear mandate to enhance the outreach of the elaborated knowledge products. Although being launched under the topic of “adaptation”, all publications in the “Adaptation Briefing” follow a holistic and integrated view on climate action.

Why integrated climate action?

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) countries need to reduce their emissions and phase them out by 2050. To reach this goal, the adoption of a long-term strategy and mid-term targets are crucial, with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) providing a main avenue. In addition to the mitigation targets, the Paris Agreement established a global goal on adaptation and supports a balance between adaptation and mitigation. National Adaptation Planning (NAP) processes are important instruments to integrate adaptation to climate change into sectoral development planning. Thus, NAP and NDC implementation are seen as complementary processes following a holistic and integrated approach towards climate action and ambition raising. When advancing from planning to practical implementation and respective projects, the need for integrated approaches gets even more obvious: Climate action, comprised of mitigation and adaptation measures, serves the goal of ensuring sustainable development as outlined in the SDGs.

Impulses for “inter-silo” discussions from multiple perspectives

With the “Adaptation Briefing” SPA aims at providing impulses and stimulating new “inter-silo” and inter-organizational discussions on how to further enhance holistic climate action. The compilation intends to give a comprehensive overview on a wide range of NDC and NAP implementation themes. Each publication is classified to different thematic foci like alignment and coherence, finance, multi-level governance, nature-based solutions, private sector, resilience, society and transparency. By working closely together with SPA’s consortium partners (including the main partners NAP Global Network and its secretariat at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the International Institute for Environment and Development, adelphi as well as WWF, UNIQUE, Factor, Ricardo and others) the publications are enriched by a whole range of different experiences and perspectives.

Behind the scenes: the SPA project

The SPA project strengthens several global initiatives and networks co-founded or financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) that enhance partner countries’ capacities to successfully implement their climate policies, reduce greenhouse gases, increase their adaptive capacities as well as communicate this transparently.

Through the initiatives and networks, SPA supports capacity development through platforms for political dialogue and mutual learning between countries. For example, through the development and dissemination of concepts, tools, good practices and narratives for the implementation of NDCs and transparency systems. Thus, the project contributes to international learning and links between the agendas for climate action, biodiversity preservation, disaster risk reduction and the SDGs.