Objective: The objective of the Dialogue is to provide a forum for Parties and other non-Party stakeholders to advance the discussions on recommendations and views on future work to enhance implementation of Action for Climate Empowerment. Virtual regional dialogues aim at providing background to and sharing knowledge among Parties and non-Party stakeholders of each region, bringing all onto the same page regarding the current status of ACE implementation.

Methodology: Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the 8th Dialogue on ACE was organized through four virtual regional dialogues and two global events. Each session of the regional dialogues focused on the following topics:

• Fostering in-country cross-sectoral collaboration on ACE;
• Promoting regional knowledge sharing and highlighting good practices to follow-up on and review the implementation of the Doha work programme on ACE; and
• Providing recommendations and views on future work to enhance ACE implementation towards 2030.

Background: Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) denotes work under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement (2015) and their six elements: Climate Change Education, Training, Public Awareness, Public Access to Information, Public Participation, and International Cooperation on these issues. Implementation of all six elements has increasingly been recognized as crucial in solving the complex challenges presented by climate change. This is also reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (for example SDG targets 4.7 and 13.3) to which the ACE agenda is closely related.

Mandate: At COP 18, Parties adopted the Doha work programme on Article 6 of the Convention  and requested that the SBI organize an annual in-session Dialogue on Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) in order to enhance work in the areas of climate change education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information, and international cooperation on these matters. At COP 25 in Madrid, Spain, Parties adopted the terms of reference for the review of the Doha work programme on Article 6 of the Convention.  By this Decision, Parties requested the secretariat to organize the 8th Dialogue on ACE in 2020 to advance the discussions on recommendations and views on future work to enhance implementation of ACE.

Participation: The 8th Dialogue was open for participation by Parties, representatives of relevant bodies established under the Convention, relevant experts, practitioners, and stakeholders. The Doha work programme specifies that key stakeholders include intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, in particular women, indigenous peoples, youth-focused organizations, the private sector, and the media.

With a view to foster virtual participation, the following groups of experts whose work closely relates to the discussed topics were targeted: ACE focal points, ACE negotiators, UNFCCC focal points, staff responsible for updating the NDCs at the national level, Ministries of education, and other stakeholders engaged in ACE issues.

Registration: Online registration required for the regional dialogues.

Logistical arrangements: Regional dialogues had a duration of three hours. A one-hour global event was held at the beginning (8 June 2020) to officially launch the Dialogue, and another global event at the end (November 2020) to provide conclusions on what has emerged from each region.

Recording: The recordings of the virtual sessions and the PowerPoint presentations are made available on the UNFCCC website.

Organizer: The 8th Dialogue on ACE was organized by the UNFCCC secretariat in collaboration with UNESCO to foster in-country coordination among Ministries of Environment and Ministries of Education, and with the members of the UN Alliance on Education, Training and Public Awareness.