The regional collaboration centres (RCCs) facilitated a wide range of activities and delivered a long list of achievements in support of Parties’ climate action in 2019.

Feedback from stakeholders with whom the RCCs worked during the year reinforced the reporting team’s view that the RCCs have matured into efficient and effective centres that contribute substantially to awareness raising, enhanced capacity on the ground, and regional cooperation.

Beyond the numerous outputs described in this report, the reporting team sought to assess the value the RCCs bring to the international response to climate change in the short-medium term and understand the impact of the RCC initiative in the long-term. In other words, one needs to assess whether the RCCs are creating an enabling environment that can deliver the action and ambition required meet the goal of the Paris Agreement.

Thus, this report can serve as a baseline of key topics and functions against which to judge the impact of the RCCs in the years to come. This report presents what was exemplary in the RCC in 2019, their capacity to engage stakeholders, catalyze action and support implementation. The report also attempts to define the role the RCC initiative needs to take in future to continue to make a meaningful contribution to the fight against climate change.

Message on the publication of the RCC Annual Report 2019

"Let me express my appreciation to all of you – donors, RCC host partners, regional partners, including UN agencies and staff from both host partners as well as UNFCCC secretariat – for your hard work to achieve the successes of the RCCs over the past seven years.   With the CDM remaining a major focus of the RCCs, I am impressed by the broad range of support being offered by the RCCs, including adaptation, mitigation, nationally-determined contributions, transparency, climate finance, technology, capacity-building and non-Party stakeholder engagement. I am convinced the involvement of RCCs in the UN development system through regionally-based UN agencies will contribute to making the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a reality.

The infrastructure and partnerships you have developed in just under a decade have helped build a strong pathway to addressing climate change and the valuable lessons learned along the way will help RCCs better support countries as they work to implement commitments under the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Rest assured, UN Climate Change has been and will continue to be active in your region to support you. Likewise, we will also continue to depend on your expertise, skills and knowledge as we, along with all segments of society, continue working to address climate change. I am optimistic, just as I am with respect to other areas of support to the UNFCCC process, that our work in each region will continue in new and innovative ways, and I look forward to the productive outcomes of the RCCs in the coming years."

From the opening speech at the Regional Collaboration Centre Global Forum 2019

"We must significantly increase our efforts to reduce emissions, our carbon footprints. And we must seek to increase our resilience to the now present effects of climate change. Not tomorrow. Not in five years from now – today. As we can plainly see, the weather will not wait for us to act. If we are to make the needed changes, we must have unprecedented cooperation, coordination and, yes, confidence. It may not grab the headlines, but RCCs are an integral part of the international response to climate change, or rather they must continually strive to be so. The climate crisis, and present and future generations demand it. To those here representing RCCs, I just want to say that we recognize and appreciate your efforts. Thank you for all your hard work". 

From the speech at the signing of the MOU establishing RCC Dubai

"This important partnership establishing a regional centre in Dubai will help turn climate ambition, so urgently needed, into climate action on the ground in support of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Since their establishment in 2013, the RCCs have been growing in response to the needs of the countries they are meant to support. Their mandate has grown from assisting with the implementation of CDM projects to providing overall support to parties in strengthening their capacities to raise their ambition to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. They do so in close collaboration with partners whose established reginal presence provides solid foundation for long lasting impact".

OBJECTIVE

This report provides information about the activities implemented by the six regional collaboration centres (RCCs) in 2019. It serves as a management tool for the UN Climate Change and its collaborators in managing RCCs and setting the strategic direction of the RCC initiative.  This report is also meant to enhance communication with internal and external stakeholders by providing general information on the RCC initiative and planned activities in 2020.

This full-year report adds to the permanent record of the RCC initiative and will be used in future monitoring and evaluation. The report highlights challenges and opportunities for the RCC Initiative in supporting regional efforts.

Methodology and Structure of the report

The report is based on information collected from RCCs’ resource planners, monitoring reports, data volumes, regular activity and progress reports and articles , including information developed before 2019. Some of the monitoring tools also gather inputs from stakeholders involved in the RCC activities. The information was analyzed by the support team in Bonn and, when applicable, quantified and translated into statistics. The report covers the following:

• The role the RCCs can play in supporting regional climate action;
• The RCC organizational structure;
• Key achievements in areas such as the clean development mechanism (CDM), adaptation, climate finance, youth and gender;
• Communication, event delivery, capacity-building and implementation of the RCC workplans;
• Next steps for the RCCs, including the 2020 workplan;
• Appendices on the strategic development of the RCCs, as well as manuals and other managerial documents.

OUTCOMES:  Role of RCC in catalyzing action

The analysis of the achievements in 2019 indicates that the RCCs continue to play an important role in supporting climate action globally by enhancing the delivery of regional activities from a variety of government and non-state stakeholders alike. This conclusion is further supported by the growing interest in the RCC initiative, as demonstrated through the establishment of the sixth RCC, based in Dubai, UAE, and in the reporting in section F below which features  78 events delivered, 200 CDM projects supported, as well as the USD 1.5 million mobilized.

The CDM remains a major focus of the RCCs; however, since adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, the scope of the RCCs has broadened to cover a range of mitigation and adaptation activities, funded from various sources, delivered at the request of Parties and donors, in coordination with UN Climate Change divisions and sometimes in collaboration with other UN agencies at the national, regional and global level.

Thus, the RCCs’ have become an additional tool of UN Climate Change for catalyzing, supporting, coordinating and accelerating participation and action by Parties and non-state actors under the Convention, its Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, across the secretariat’s various substantive areas of work .

The case for UN Climate Change’s regional presence in supporting action comprises the following: (a) mandates from Parties requiring on-the-ground support, (b) the secretariat’s role as an unbiased custodian of the Convention, Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, (c) the secretariat’s responsibility serving the UN’s global response to climate change, (d) the secretariat comprehensive network of global and regional climate change stakeholders and requests from  those stakeholders for support and (e) the secretariat’s knowledge of and capacity to help stakeholders meet the technical and political challenges related to climate change.

The RCCs support climate action in the following ways:

- Engaging with a diverse range of actors to nurture action and keep climate action at the top of the political agenda:

• Identifying and assessing possible actions;
• Advocating and mobilizing enhanced implementation.

- Identifying gaps and constraints that prevent climate action;

- Developing and implementing strategies and actions for overcoming constraints /gaps:

• Direct technical assistance in the preparation of action plans and strategies;
• Technical support for implementation, through capacity-building and training;
• Facilitating access to various sources of support;
• Support to transparent reporting.

- Identifying and benefiting from synergies in climate action while avoiding overlaps:

• Liaising with key actors involved in support and implementation;
• Ensuring efficiency in delivery of action, including by supporting collaboration, partnerships and mutual learning;
• Monitoring policies and measures.

- Keeping track of implementation:

• Providing technical assistance for reporting;
• Supporting the communication of results;
• Collecting and disseminating information on climate action.

The RCCs capitalize on the following infrastructure and strengths:

a) Large regional network: UN Climate Change has a well-developed network of partners at different levels in all the regions. Partners recognize the RCCs for their ability to organize and coordinate activities, provide a direct communication channel to the UNFCCC process and serve as an information hub on climate related matters;

b) Monitoring and tracking tools: In 2019 tools were put in place to track progress of RCC activities, ensure transparent management, continually monitor progress and performance, and produce operational and management information;

c) Strength of partners: The RCCs’ local partners and partner UN organizations are well established and have in-depth knowledge of the local context—in most cases, RCC partners have long standing regional presence and rely on broad regional networks. The RCCs’ proximity and on-the-ground experience have appealed to local and regional donors;

d) Human resources: Efficient and flexible RCC arrangements enable a fast deployment of staff in the regions, for short- or long-term missions, whether UN Climate Change staff or seconded staff from collaborating organizations. In 2019, staff members were seconded from UNV and GIZ;

e) Flexible scope: RCC work plans are flexible and can be adapted to support new activities and target areas;

f) RCC communication plans and CO collaboration: The UN Climate Change Communication and Outreach Programme (CO) supports the secretariat’s regional presence through the RCC initiative. Stories and news items about RCC activities are conveyed on the UN Climate Change website, in e-newsletters and other platforms;

g) Operating resources in  RCCs: In 2019 the seven UN Climate Change staff members assigned to the RCCs were complemented by a total of 17 RCC host partner staff members to deliver against the joint workplans.  Experience has shown that significant savings were achieved through RCCs handling the work locally and regionally instead of staff travelling from Bonn. The six RCCs host partners contributed in-kind logistical support and funds to support implementation of the workplans. Funds for the operations of the RCCs were received from the CDM Exectuive Board, donors and partners.

In 2019, the RCCs deepened their relationship with local stakeholders and international organizations operating at the regional level. These relationships reveal unique features that better position RCCs in answering emerging needs:

• Proximity: The RCCs are well placed to facilitate local activities, provide a more accessible communication channel to UN Climate Change, and serve as a local information hub on climate related issues;
• Knowledge of the local context: The RCCs possess on-the-ground understanding of local circumstances and are able to communicate in the local language (i.e. Arabic, French, Spanish) using the appropriate local means and channels, which has enabled the development of strong regional networks of partners;
• Ability to connect local and global expertise: The RCCs bridge the complexity gap between international climate policy under the Convention and real  implementation of action on the ground. Both levels see added value: the high level is informed about the reality on the ground, while practitioners receive support for climate action under the Convention. This is achieved by bringing together, in the RCCs, experts from Bonn and local experts from partner organizations;
• Strength as arms of a specialized entity: UN Climate Change is the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to climate change. As the regional arms of UN Climate Change, the RCCs facilitate the various regional climate action work streams of the secretariat. Further, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development acknowledges UN Climate Change as the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiations on the global response to climate change. Noting this uniqueness, partners and stakeholders are keen to partner and share information with the RCCs on catalyzing climate action. United Nations entities and other international/regional organizations have extended their close cooperation to the RCCs to help countries achieve the SDGs in a coherent and collaborative way. This cooperation is expected to provide another efficient and effective means to deliver secretariat support to implementation of its mandates at the country and regional levels;
• Role as central hub: From their inception, the RCCs have continually evolved as information hubs for a broad and growing range of climate-related matters in the regions where they are operating. Work in many areas came to RCCs based on proactive requests from stakeholders. This demonstrates the need for local support on a broad range of issues. This also demonstrates the benefits of a local central hub able to act as one-stop-shop to support and coordinate climate action at the regional level.

 Figure 1: RCC roles

The RCC initiative timeline and structure

The first Regional Collaboration Centre began operation in January 2013 in Lomé with the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and by August 2013 four RCCs were operational with the additions of Kampala with the East African Development Bank (EADB), St George’s with WINDREF at the University of St George’s, and Bogotá with the Latin American Development Bank (CAF). RCCs were established to help Parties, stakeholders and project participants overcome barriers to the development and implementation of CDM project activities and programmes of activities (PoAs). With adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015 and calls for more ambitious climate action, the RCCs were called on to support a broader range of work, on mitigation and adaptation in the context of Parties nationally determined contributions.

• 2011-2012: Concept development; Selection of staff and first 2 training session for selected staff in collaboration with UNDP and UN ethics office.
• 2013: 4 RCC set up. Work of RCC initiative recognized by UN Climate Change secretariat with the awarding of a Change for Good Award in the category Impact.
• 2014: Communication strategy launched with e-newsletters, dedicated webpages, articles for external and internal audiences, and media engagement to increase RCC visibility.
• 2015: Bangkok RCC set up. Independent evaluation of RCCs confirms RCCs are effective in delivering against their mandate. RCC host partners highlight need for support to cover a broad range of climate issues.
• 2016-2018: Initiative enhanced with launch of monitoring and evaluation system, scaled-up communication and outreach activities, broadened range of subject areas and donor support. Four RCCs led by female team leads.
• 2017: Note delivered to senior secretary management on strengthening UN Climate Change’s regional presence. Pilot project to explore wider support of RCC to UNFCCC given green light by UN Climate Change Management Team (MT).
• 2019: RCC Dubai established, the sixth RCC.  Internal audit conducted. RCC governance enhanced. Further investment made in management tools. Progress on pilot project reported to MT.

 Figure 2: RCC timeline

In terms of structure, the RCC initiative is a collaboration between UN Climate Change and six host partners. The secretariat provides one or two staff members in each RCC, who once relocated to the RCC, are assisted by three to four staff members provided by the host partner. In 2019, seven UN Climate Change staff members were relocated to the RCCs (note that Table 1 refers to current staff levels) and a total of 17 RCC-host-partner or seconded staff members were working with them. The host partners cover all the administrative and logistics (office space, equipment, meeting rooms and utility charges) costs incurred by its participation in this partnership. No financial support is provided by the secretariat for the establishment and administration of an individual RCC. RCCs are currently sponsored by partners, donors and the CDM Executive Board (CDM-EB).

In terms of coverage, countries in the Eastern Europe region are currently outside RCC coverage, although there are requests from some of these countries to have an RCC focused on this region. The RCC initiative’s flexible model allows expertise from one RCC to help address the needs of other RCCs.

Table 1: RCC teams on the ground and RCC support team in Bonn in February 2020

[1] Former RCC Bogotá that was established in August 2015.

This “RCC Highlights” section provides an overview of the different areas of work that the RCCs targeted in 2019 and highlights some of the specific deliverables as exemplary of the results achieved.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2019

ADVANCING MULTI-LATERALISM

D.1. CiACA:

Since 2016, UN Climate Change has been providing technical support to jurisdictions considering adopting carbon pricing instruments under its Collaborative Instruments for Ambitious Climate Action (CiACA)¹¹ workstream.

• Elaborated the second phase of CiACA and secured financial contributions from donors Germany, The Province of Quebec and RCC host partners
• Recruited a regional coordinator to form an East African alliance on climate finance and carbon markets
• At the UN Climate Conference (COP25), CiACA held an event focused on the role of regional platforms, which covered the relevance of regional collaboration to promote adoption of collaborative economic instruments to achieve the Paris goals
• Panama, with support from RCC Panama, finalized guidelines for a registry of greenhouse gas emissions
• Pakistan, with support from RCC Dubai and RCC Bangkok, finalized a report on the opportunity for domestic carbon pricing and a study on feasibility of establishing an emissions trading system, and announced at COP25 the setting up of a national committee on establishing carbon markets
• Senegal, with support from RCC Lomé, published outcomes of a study and validation workshop and design of follow-up activities
• Dominican Republic, with RCC St. George’s, finalized a study on the potential for domestic carbon pricing, prepared a validation report, and designed and started activities identify options and design for a domestic carbon pricing system.

D.2. MRV Hub:

Regional cooperation for Transparency has been catalyzed by the RCCs. Increased attention is placed on high-level of transparency to achieve ambitious climate targets under the Paris Agreement.  Besides the national GHG emissions inventories, all Parties are also required to report on progress towards their climate targets as well as on support received at a regular frequency.   Robust MRV systems for these countries are important not only for reporting to the UNFCCC, but also for accessing climate change resources like Green Climate Fund and, establishing and monitoring national policies and measures, as well as meeting other international reporting needs like SDG performance having robust data collection. Reporting systems are important for these countries. While all Parties wish for a maximum of transparency, concrete implementation is often hindered by a lack of domestic capacity, especially in Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries. UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centers have identified this challenge and work together with other regional and international partners to support developing country Parties in addressing these challenges, by establishing regional MRV platforms. By reducing the barriers and strengthening regional capacity, and sharing experiences and expertise in a cooperative manner, the MRV platforms are expected to enhance participation and transparency of activities under the Paris Agreement.

RCC Lomé together with UNDP-UNEP Global Support Programme for National Communications and Biennial Update Reports (GSP), and ECOWAS secretariat established in 2017 the ECOWAS MRV Network to support countries in the region. The network was successful in training sectoral experts, creating a network of experts and providing a platform for regular sharing of experiences and best practices within the region, supported by technical expertise of the RCC and other international experts. RCC Kampala, learning from the positive experience of ECOWAS MRV Network, is working on establishing a similar network for East Africa.

RCC St. George’s, together with GHGMI, established the Caribbean Cooperative Measurement, Reporting and Verification Hub (CCMRVH), which is an initiative supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and International Climate Initiative (IKI), for the first five years of its operation. UNDP-UNEP GSP are also a partner for this project and the secretariat of the CCMRVH is hosted at the RCC offices in Grenada. The CCMRVH is built on a model of sustainable and country-driven partnership that enables countries to cooperate on technical challenges underlying climate change reporting. Now a year into its operation, the Hub is continually working to foster regional and technical excellence while generating stronger policy-relevant MRV reporting aimed at empowering English-speaking CARICOM countries to efficiently develop Greenhouse Gas inventories and mitigation assessments and track their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

RCC Bangkok on the other hand has conducted several activities to strengthen the MRV systems in the region. It operates under various partnerships.  Under the Collaborative Instruments for Ambitious Climate Action (CiACA) Initiative of UNFCCC, it conducted a study on cooperative MRV as a foundation for a potential regional carbon market within ASEAN.  The study was conducted in cooperation with the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Changes. A working group under the ASEAN Secretariat. The report has been widely recognized as a first comprehensive status and comparison on MRV systems within ASEAN member states. It also undertook an International Market Mechanisms and Transparency project under the Paris Agreement with its RCC host partner IGES. Building on the lessons from the CCMRVH, RCC Bangkok worked with the AWGCC and the CCMRVH partners to replicate the CCMRVH model in the Pacific Islands.

D.3. Climate Weeks:

The RCCs have supported the Regional Climate Weeks by securing high level participation, bringing relevant speakers and ensuring that local and regional organizations are adequately represented and engaged. This was possible thanks to their strong networks on the ground and their ability to identify and engage relevant stakeholders. In addition, the RCCs have been instrumental in driving CDM and market mechanism related discussions during the Regional Climate Weeks in 2019. During the Africa Climate Week 2019, RCC Kampala organized three sessions dedicated to further promote the CDM in Africa. One session showcased the most successful countries (Republic of South Africa, Kenya and Uganda) in terms of implementing the CDM Programme of Activities. An additional session provided an overview of the CDM Loan Scheme statistics and experience, its unique pilot character, adaptive approach and technical/market challenges (including Certified Emission Reductions price). Finally, a dedicated session was honored with the presence of a former CDM Executive Board member, Arthur Rolle, who touched upon the importance of the CDM and the current situation of the intergovernmental negotiations on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. All sessions were very well attended. In the Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week 2019, RCC Panama delivered a dedicated session focused on how the CDM CERs in the region have served in the development of carbon-pricing strategies and the expectations for future developments. Approximately 60 people attended the session. Finally, during the Asia Pacific Climate Week 2019 RCC Bangkok hosted a dedicated session entitled “Climate Action in Waste Sector – Standardized Baseline Development” to highlight the opportunities offered by CDM standardized baselines to scale up and replicate mitigation projects, contributing to the achievement of the countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions and the use for different purposes, such as Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions, climate finance, result based finance, etc.

In 2019, it was also announced that MENA Climate Week would be added to the annual Regional Climate Weeks.  The first ever edition of MENA Climate Week 2020 would be organized in Dubai, UAE in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and WGEO, with the support of RCC Dubai.

RCCs increased their communication efforts in 2019. RCCs regularly disseminated e-newsletters and published these on their respective websites in English, French and Spanish.¹³ The newsletters reached more than 6,000 stakeholders to provide technical advice, inform readers on relevant events, facilitate cooperation and promote opportunities for project funding. The newsletters have received positive feedback from stakeholders.

2019 saw the development and publishing of various RCC brochures as well as initiating the process to revamp the different RCCs websites with each RCC having a website that has brochures which highlight overview of RCC work. During COP24 a 2-page brochure was printed presenting the RCC initiatives and one focusing on CiACA were circulated to all the Ministers and National Focal points present.

Figure 3: Sample of RCC brochure

Figure 4: Sample of RCC brochure (continued)

F.1. Resource Planner

RCCs  use Excel basedResource Planners to ensure  results-based planning, monitoring and reporting on  implementation of their workplans.  The Results Based Management (RBM) approach has improved on Planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting on results from RCC activities and gauge value addition in the regions. Through the Resources Planner,all RCC operations are constantly tracked, regular reports are generated, and dashboards are available that showgeneral progress on the workplan (with KPIs and  activity status) , partnerships, resource mobilization and RCC resource contributions. All RCCs lista range of priorities and workstream-related activities. Accompanying notes or issues logged in the issue tracker are updated to indicate the status of the activities. Continuous monitoring of quarterly milestones or success rates of those tasks aredone in order to ascertain the implementation status at any given time. Data and information from the Resource Planner iis used to prepare half-year and year-end management reports using an established Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (M&E Framework).  The M&E Framework is designed to continuously assess whether the activities being carried out in the RCCs meet the defined objectives and are in line with the MOUs signed with Host Partner institutions.   

The RCCs, have a good balance of support to CDM work and other areas of the secretariat’s work, including diverse capacity-building/ events organized by the RCCs.   

The chart below shows the percentage of Goal distribution per RCC, with 41% of efforts focused on Goal 1, 35% on Goal 2 and 24% on Goal 3.

RCC Dubai which was recently launched follows a project-oriented approach to accomplish its work. RCC Dubai’s project portfolio consists of a range of projects designed to: fill knowledge gaps in adaptation to climate change, create strategies to access climate finance, increase regional participation in global climate action, strengthen the capacity of youth to contribute to the regional and global response to climate change, and introduce new methodologies and tools to address climate change.  Each project  a detailed Project Initiation Note with clear actionable steps and measurable KPIs. These projects also closely relate to the goals mentioned above and are also aligned to the Resource Planner.

Figure 5:RCC goal distribution

F.2. Articles and Newsletters Published

This report,also contains a high-level overview of articles that are published on two major information sharing portals: the UNFCCC’s internal portal, SIA, where news items are published regularly and the RCC websites where newsletters on the various activities implemented by the RCCs are published on a quarterly basis.

Figure 7: Communications on Capacity-building Activities

F.3. RCC Events

In 2019, the RCCs conducted a total of 78 events. The events varied from workshops to conferences, forums, trainings and seminars.  These events targeted various CDM stakeholders,International organizations, UN agencies, NGO, University/School and the Private sector. Modalities of implementing these events range from being directly organized by the RCCs oras co-organizers, participats, contributors, presenters and facilitators during the events.

In 33% of these events, the RCCs acted as co-organizers, highlighting their important role in these strategic partnership initiatives. 

Figure 8: RCC Role, Target Audience, and Types of Interactions in RCC events

Most dominant were events on the CDM, where RCCS held events that centered around CDM projects and PoAs, CDM processes, Compliance Markets, Non-compliance Markets/ Voluntary Markets, Climate Change Finance, SBL, NAMA, SD tool, INDCs, Adaptation, RCC outreach, CDM Funding / Investment.

 Figure 9: Prominent themes delivered through the 78 workshops, trainings, gatherings by RCCs in 2019 (underlined are links to examples of capacity-building report)

RCC events bring together Partners, Governments and Developing Partners to work together in order to tackle challenges related to climate change. The collaborations in these events involve a diverse group of stakeholders from around the region to seek their recommendations on what is needed to speed up Climate Action and discuss solutions to related challenges faced by the specific region.

Events also revolve heavily around Climate Action and the enhancement of Climate Action, one of the mandates of the RCCs. Capacity-building events which were directly organized or co-organized by RCCs weremostly centered on the CDM and National communications. RCCs ensure optimum impact out of these capacity-building events by creating the environment within which capacity-building takes place naturally rather than the traditional top-down capacity-building. The programmes are designed to provide more opportunity to listento what Ministries and local authorities want, in order to give them a sense of ownership and make the event demand driven. Where appropriate, local resource persons are invited and collaboration amongst participants are encouraged. Thus, the six RCCs have been building capacity in mobilizing CDM and other competencies, as shown in the figure below, in various regions through collaborative arrangements between UN Climate Change and regional development banks or academic/training institutions of different regions, with emphasis on retaining capacity to achieve long-term impact from the capacity built.

Figure 10: Six types of Capacity-building Events held by RCCs in 2019

Figure 11: Breakdown of RCC Numbers

Photo 5: At COP 25, H.E. Ana Belén Marín (President of the Parliamentary Network of Climate Change) along with James Grabert (SDM Director) formalizing the cooperation between ParlAmericas and the UNFCCC. Marín: “articulated work will allow us to continue

 

 

 

 

 Partnership between RCC Dubai and WGEO

 

Photo 6: Images courtesy of Emirates247.com:
(L-R) James Grabert; H.E. Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Cabinet Member and Minister of Climate Change and Environment, the United Arab Emirates; H.E. Saeed Mohamed Al Tayer, Chair, WGEO

Example of RCC partners in 2019                        

 Figure 11: Partnerships with Individual RCCs

RCC Partnership interactions tended to relate to partnership building, funding resources, joint project implementation, funding of events, communications and outreach, and co-organising events. Most of the interactions were focused on co-organising events and partnership development.

Figure 12: Breakdown of RCC Interactions

F.5. Missions

The RCC missions contributed most to Goal One, which is to provide effective technical and substantive support to CDM stakeholders by developing bottom-up and top-down standardized baselines (SBLs), use of the CDM tool, finance for CDM projects and responding to CDM Queries); and to Goal Two, which focuses on facilitating regional engagement to promote action towards achieving the objectives and goals of the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, in collaboration with UNFCCC programmes, RCC host institutions, and partnerships.

Figure 13: Goals of RCCs

While 56 countries were targeted by all RCCs, please note that some RCCs targeted the same country with different missions taken on by different staff. St George’s targeted the most countries; it had 13 missions out of the 56 countries, or 23% of the countries. Bangkok had the least countries targeted 10 and the rest all targeted 11 countries each as per the chart below.

Figure 14: % Share of Total 56 Countries Targeted by RCCs

The 2020-21 RCC Strategy indicates that for the Paris Agreement to succeed RCCs must leverage the convening power of the UNFCCC process to connect stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness and impact of their efforts.  This role requires developing synergies among similar activities and having a more coherent approach that breaks barriers between traditional organisations- based workstreams to a more subject-based approach in fulfilling climate change related mandates.  The envisaged outcome of the RCC Strategy is to seamlessly provide guidance and support on climate action and strategic direction in the regions to both Party and Non-Party stakeholders. With this in mind, the RCCs will (a) fill potential gaps between UNFCCC mandates and their concrete implementation by working directly in the regions with the many international and regional development support organizations and development banks; (b) Engage the Regional Coordinators (RCs) and UN Country Teams and invite them to use the already established RCCs to strengthen support at the country level as the world moves towards effective implementation of the Paris Agreement; (c) Creating public and private partnerships to ensure a needs-based, country-driven approach to scale, accelerate and increase ambitious action to address climate change and increase resilience; (d) Future of non-state climate action becoming more and more relevant: potential of climate weeks is enormous and so RCCs will continue to support to them;  (e) The CMP and its Presidents, as well as the COP, have repeatedly urged KP Parties intending to ratify the Doha Amendment to expedite their domestic procedures to deposit their instruments of acceptance with the Depositary as soon as possible.

Following the development of the strategy, the 2020 RCC workplan has tried to put in place concrete activities for the current year.

The 2020 Workplan has three broad goals with identified outcomes and KPIs. The workplan outlines the support provided by the regional presence of UN Climate Change (secretariat), in collaboration with its host institutions, in facilitating, catalyzing and supporting local and regional climate action across all the climate secretariat’s substantive areas of work providing strategic direction, using a network of effective public and private partnerships, which ensure  a needs-based country-driven   approach to scale,  and accelerate and increase ambitious action to address climate change and increase resilience.  

The three goals[1] aim to create synergies among similar activities under different workstreams and have a more coherent approach that focuses key areas of work of the secretariat.  Those areas of work include Mitigation, Adaptation, Transparency, Finance, Technology & Capacity- building.  This role of the RCCs is to ensure seamless guidance and support to Party and non-Party stakeholders on climate action and strategic direction in the regions with the main objective of:

Ensure effective support to promote Mitigation and Sustainable Development.  

Goal 1 supports the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol.

Goal 1 includes communication, capacity building, stakeholder engagement, technical support, regional coordination and any other activity performed that are necessary to keep the CDM active in the RCC regions and ensure geographical distribution.

Take lead and collaborate with other UNFCCC Divisions, RCC host institutions, partners, NDC-Partnership, GCF etc. to support implementation of the Paris Agreement, regional and national climate strategies and policies on Adaptation, Transparency, Finance, Technology & Capacity- building

Goal 2 facilitates the implementation of the Paris Agreement in the areas of Adaptation, Transparency, Finance, Technology and Capacity-building, as well as, supporting the development and effective implementation of innovative market-based approaches building on the lessons learnt from the CDM to broaden the engagement in and effectiveness of action to mitigate climate change and drive sustainable development. This goal also aims at facilitating the operationalization of the cooperative approaches established by Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and broader efforts to engage non-Party stakeholders in climate action.

Management, Business Development and regional climate change coordination

Goal 3 is about the mobilization and coordination of Climate Action in the Regions and putting measure in place to ensure continued engagement with the host partner, UN Regional teams, international agencies and other partners.   This goal is key in identifying potential new areas of work and prudent management of resources by aligning resources to defined deliverables, reporting on activities and value add of the RCC which in turn helps attract other partners and resources.  Communication of RCC activities and highlights via different platforms are an important aspect of this goal to ensure visibility and level of engagement with Party and non-Party stakeholders in climate action, as an extended arm of the secretariat.

______________________________________________

H.1. CIACA Report

H.2. Report on CapacityBuilding

H.3. Nairobi Framework Partnerships

H.4. CIACA Brochure

H.5. RCC Highlight 2018

H.6. RCC Highlights 2019

H.7. Regular Reports to the CDM EB

H.8. Annual Report of the EB to the CMP

H.9.Co-operative activities with UN entities