ACE Activity Series 2021

Activity Series 2021

**UPDATE: Details of the Continued ACE activity series are available here.

Activity series to advance discussions on the review of the Doha work programme on Article 6 of the Convention and on future work to enhance the implementation of Action for Climate Empowerment

The Bureau at its meeting on 25 February requested the presiding officers to make available a plan of upcoming activities in preparation for a successful COP 26 in November 2021. Following this guidance, the Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation, Ms. Marianne Karlsen, Norway, is convening a series of activities, including informal consultations, technical expert meetings and other events.

Context:
The COP requested the SBI, at its 52nd session, to launch the review of the implementation of the Doha work programme on Article 6 of the Convention (thereafter referred to as the review), and to consider future work to enhance the implementation of Article 6 of the Convention and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement, following the review, and to prepare a draft decision for consideration and adoption at COP 26.¹

With the postponement of in-person sessions in 2020, the review could not be formally launched. However, activities in support of the review could be initiated in 2020 by the the SBI Chair under the overarching principle of maximizing progress and minimizing delay as agreed by the Bureau at its meeting on 25 August 2020. Such activities included the virtual regional and global 8th ACE Dialogue events² and the first virtual informal consultation organised under the guidance of the SBI Chair on 3 December 2020.

In 2021, given the continued uncertainty about how the pandemic will evolve, the SBI Chair continues to be guided by the same principle and is proposing a series of activities in preparation for the next session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation. The proposed activity series aims to build on the two reports³ prepared by the secretariat in accordance with the terms of reference⁴ on the review of the Doha work programme, the virtual regional and global 8th ACE Dialogue events and the first virtual informal consultation by the SBI Chair referred to above..

Objective:
The objective of this activity series is to provide an informal space for Parties and observers under the guidance of the SBI Chair to advance discussions on the review of the Doha work programme and future work to enhance the implementation of ACE under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement.

Description:
A mixed mode of technical events and virtual informal consultations will be utilised. Technical events are intended to raise awareness and provide opportunities for specific content elements to be discussed in more detail to support focused discussions in the virtual informal consultations. The focus of each virtual informal consultation aims to build on the technical events and previous informal consultations.

Technical events and consultations will be open to Parties and observers.

Contact/Additional Information:
Action for Climate Empowerment Team (ace@unfccc.int)

Information session - 17 March

This event provides a summary of views gathered through submissions, collated in the information note as well as inputs to the 8th ACE Dialogue in 2020, so that Parties and observers may be fully informed in preparation for expert group meetings and informal consultations.

You can watch the recording of the session here

Presentation

Any questions related to the information provided can be directed to ace@unfccc.int.

Second virtual informal consultations - 24 March, 11:00 - 12:30 (CET)

Details

The second virtual informal consultations focuses on possible elements and create a structure for the discussions. Recommendations received through submissions, workshops and Dialogues identify possible elements, action or activities with different characteristics, for example:

Guiding principles e.g. a participatory approach that enables meaningful, inclusive and informed participation by all stakeholders; a country-driven approach, etc;
Broad, open-ended, outcome-oriented at different levels e.g. strengthening national institutional capacity beyond the ACE national focal points (national); Parties appointing and supporting national ACE focal points (national and international); mainstreaming ACE across all areas of the Convention and the Paris Agreement, (international); annual ACE Dialogues (international), etc;
Specific, time-bound activities intended to support a particular ACE element at a particular level e.g. designing guidelines for Parties for soliciting public input on climate change policy and action at the international, national and local level (public participation at the national level); preparing case studies of government support and policies for climate change education (education at the national or sub-national level), etc;
Specific, time-bound activities related to the implementation of the work programme e.g. Parties report in their national communications, biennial reporting or other relevant reports on the implementation of a successive work programme; SBI reviews implementation, etc;
Regular activities for the secretariat e.g. collaborate with Parties, non-Party stakeholders and regional and international organizations to catalyse implementation of ACE; organise the annual ACE Dialogue, etc.

Focusing on the first two ‘categories’, what are your priority elements to be included?

First expert group meeting - 14 April, 16:00 - 19:00 (CEST)

Recording in English click here
Recording in French click here
Recording in Spanish click here

The first expert group meeting enables a technical discussion on how monitoring, reporting and evaluation of national action on ACE can be voluntarily implemented under existing transparency rules and arrangements

A gap and challenge identified through inputs to the review of the Doha work programme is the need to strengthen voluntary reporting by countries on ACE implementation as a means of communicating to citizens and the international community about progress, gaps and challenges, as well as increasing accountability for implementation.

Several countries and observers are tackling this challenge and identifying solutions.

Provisional Agenda

Time	Topic
16:00 - 16:15	Opening remarks Marianne Karlsen, SBI Chair Overview presentation from the secretariat
Monitoring and Evaluation
16:15 - 16:30	Panel discussions on policy instruments for ACE monitoring and evaluation Alan Ramirez, Technical Director, National Council for Climate Change and Clean Development Mechanism, Dominican Republic Shamiso Najira, Deputy Director, Environmental Affairs Department, Malawi Roberta Ianna, ACE National Focal Point, Italy
16:30 - 16:50	Presentations Principles for monitoring and evaluation of ACE activities George Marshall, Founding Director, Climate Outreach Monitoring and evaluation of climate education Dr. Marcia McKenzie, Director, Sustainability and Education Policy Network
16:50 - 17:40	Break-out group discussions Guiding questions: How might an internationally coordinated monitoring and evaluation system benefit further work on ACE? How can non-Party stakeholders contribute to the monitoring and evaluation process? What are the challenges and what specific elements might be included in further work on ACE?
17:40 - 17:55	Break
Reporting
17:55 - 18:15	Presentations Good practices of reporting through National Communications Frank Niepold, ACE National Focal Point, United States of America Dr. Emmanuel Tachie-Obeng, ACE National Focal Point, Ghana
18:15 - 18:55	Break-out group discussions Guiding questions: What are the remaining gaps and needs for reporting? What are the possible tools and methods? What elements could be included in future work on ACE to foster reporting efforts?
18:55 - 19:00	Closing remarks Marianne Karlsen, SBI Chair

Third virtual informal consultations - 21 April, 06:30 - 08:00 (CEST)

Details

The third virtual informal consultations continue to discuss elements, including how to balance work across all six elements of ACE in an integrated manner.Turning to the remaining ‘categories’ of elements, actions or activities, namely:

Specific, time-bound activities intended to support a particular ACE element at a particular level e.g. designing guidelines for Parties for soliciting public input on climate change policy and action at the international, national and local level (public participation at the national level);
Specific, time-bound activities related to the implementation of the work programme e.g. Parties report in their national communications, biennial reporting or other relevant reports on the implementation of a successive work programme;
Specific activities for the secretariat e.g. collaborate with Parties, non-Party stakeholders and regional and international organizations to catalyse implementation of ACE.

How might these actions or activities support or contribute to the broader outcome-oriented elements previously identified?

What might be the most effective way to organise these ‘categories’ of elements, actions or activities in a successor work programme?

Second expert group meeting - 5 May, 14:00 - 17:00 (CEST)

Recording in English click here
Recording in French click here
Recording in Spanish click here

The second expert group meeting enables a technical discussion on support to implementation, including climate finance and capacity-building.

A gap and challenge consistently identified through inputs to the review of the Doha work programme is the need to enhance support for implementation of ACE.

Several Parties and observers have identified solutions through national, regional or international options and this meeting would enable Parties and observers to explore good practice examples and identify whether and how further guidance under the UNFCCC may add value for future work on ACE.

Provisional agenda

Time	Topic
14:00 - 14:15	Opening remarks Marianne Karlsen, SBI Chair Overview presentation from the secretariat
Climate Finance
14:15 - 14:35	Panel discussions on channeling climate finance for ACE activities Angus Mackay, Director, Division for Planet, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Filippo Berardi, Coordinator for Climate Change Focal Area, Global Environment Facility (GEF) Juan Hoffmaister, Multilateral Governance Manager, Green Climate Fund (GCF)
14:35 - 15:20	Break-out group discussions Guiding questions: What financing mechanisms for ACE activities are you aware of (international, regional, national and local; public and private; innovative)? What are the challenges and what specific elements might be included in future work on ACE?
15:20 - 15:35	Report Back
15:35 - 15:45	Break
Capacity-Building, Partnerships and Peer-to-Peer Exchange
15:45 - 16:05	Panel discussions on capacity-building, partnerships and peer-to-peer exchange Joe Robertson, Executive Director, Citizens' Climate International Elena Oliveros, Project Officer, EUROCLIMA+ Programme Rojina Manandhar, Programme Officer, UN Climate Change and Universities Partnership Programme
16:05 - 16:40	Break-out group discussions Guiding questions: What are the remaining gaps and needs for capacity-building, partnerships and peer-to-peer exchange at different levels (international, regional, national and local) and in different sectors (public, private, etc.)? What specific actions may be useful to strengthen inclusiveness? What elements could be included in future work on ACE to foster capacity-building, partnerships and peer-to-peer exchange efforts and at which levels/sectors?
16:40 - 16:55	Report Back
16:55 - 17:00	Closing

Fourth informal consultations - 19 May, 20:00 - 21:30 (CEST)

Details

The fourth informal consultations will focus on how the ACE work programme will be implemented, including inputs from the expert group meetings, and possible next steps.

Guiding questions:

How might support for implementation be reflected in the successor work programme?
5 and 10 years have been proposed as suitable timeframes for a future work programme. Which do you prefer? When and how should review on progress happen in each time frame?