Under2 Coalition: Climate Footprint Project
Challenge
The Under2 Coalition is a coalition of nearly 200 states, regions and provinces committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 or earlier.
Led by the Climate Group – which acts as the coalition’s secretariat - states and regions work together on the best approaches to local climate action and share best practices on policies and projects. They also advocate for greater ambition and action at the international level, to ensure that all levels of government are involved in addressing the biggest crisis of our time - climate change.
The Climate Footprint Project is an initiative to help coalition members enhance their monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of GHG emissions and reduction strategies. Phase I and II of the Climate Footprint Project was delivered with support from the German International Climate Initiative (IKI).
Phase I, which operated between 2018 and 2021, focused on seven regions or states chosen for direct support: Baja California, Yucatán and Jalisco in Mexico; Chhattisgarh and West Bengal in India; Pernambuco in Brazil; and KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). Other regions in Brazil and South Africa received technical assistance during this period, whilst a further ten regions were subsequently chosen for Phase II, which launched in 2022 following the success of the first phase of the project.
Approach
Ricardo was appointed in 2018 to provide technical assistance and training during Phase I.
In consultation with stakeholders, our team commenced by undertaking stocktakes of each region’s existing capabilities to identify technical gaps and resourcing needs, as well as understand any specific barriers.
Based on the findings, bespoke capacity-building roadmaps were developed for each region, with activities scheduled against a defined timeframe. The team then delivered tailored packages of technical assistance and training, featuring a mix of in-person and virtual workshops (the latter necessary during COVID pandemic restrictions), knowledge products, webinars and peer forums. For example, toolkits were developed that featured ‘how to’ videos alongside templates documenting the GHG inventory compilation process.
During Phase II of the project, Ricardo was appointed to provide ad-hoc support to the expanded number of states and regions participating in the Climate Footprint Project.
Result
A total of 35 tailored technical support activities were delivered to the seven Phase I regions and states, with a range of MRV-focused templates, data collection tools and guidance documents produced.
Using the toolkits, local policy teams have been able to identify primary sources of emissions and, by adapting best practice from other regions, have begun to implement appropriate emissions reduction actions.
The introduction of ad hoc support during Phase II has also provided a flexible and efficient resource for accessing specialist insight on any aspect of GHG emissions MRV - from planning to implementation - with the Ricardo team matching experts to local needs.
As a result of the project, each of the participating states and regions is better equipped to make informed decisions on cutting GHG emissions and on aligning their regional MRV systems with their national and local counterparts.
Outputs from the project can be found here: Climate Footprint Project.