Mongolia submitted increased national climate pledge under Paris Agreement
SocietyUlaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. On December 15, 2020, the
President of Mongolia, H.E. Battulga Khaltmaa reaffirmed Mongolia’s national
climate pledge to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) during his pre-recorded speech at the global Climate Ambition Summit
2020 held online on 12 December 2020, marking the country’s renewed commitment
to the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.
Under the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to develop
climate pledges - also known as ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ or ’NDCs’
- that taken together will help tackle global warming. The agreement also calls
on countries to revise and strengthen their NDCs every five years – and 2020
marks the first opportunity to do so. However, it is increasingly apparent that
urgent steps must be taken to reverse current unsustainable trends, leading to
high expectations for governments to commit to ambitious pledges that leave
no-one behind.
In November 2019, Mongolia ambitiously raised its target to
reduce total greenhouse gas emissions to 22.7 percent by 2030, through updating
its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), which was approved by the
Government Decree No.407. With that updated NDC, Mongolia committed to enhance
its mitigation efforts with policies and measures to be implemented in six key
economic sectors - energy, industry, agriculture, waste, construction, and
transport.
At the Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December 2020, the
President of Mongolia communicated that Mongolia could achieve a higher NDC
target of 27.2% reduction in greenhouse gasses if conditional mitigation
measures such as the carbon capture and storage and waste-to-energy technology
are implemented.
Mongolia’s NDC development and implementation process is
nationally owned and driven by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism with
support from UNDP along with other development partners in the country. UNDP
supports Mongolia’s climate pledge through its NDC support Programme and the
Climate Promise by supporting the development of updated NDC components and the
planning for implementation of the NDC at sectoral level.
“UNDP Mongolia is pleased to continue our support to the
Government of Mongolia and the Mongolian people in implementing climate change
mitigation measures and remain committed to work with all stakeholders to
accelerate achievement of Mongolia’s GHG reduction target together with the
Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.” said Ms. Elaine Conkievich, UNDP
Mongolia Resident Representative.
Going forward with the climate and sustainable development agendas at the national level, many of the climate actions and measures committed under Mongolia’s NDC also have the potential to generate mutual benefits across the 17 SDGs. Similarly, actions defined to meet Mongolia’s Vision 2050 targets have the potential to contribute towards achieving NDC commitments. The two agendas are interlinked and aligning their implementation provides a great opportunity to accelerate progress for a greener and more sustainable future for the people of Mongolia.
Click
here to read Mongolia’s statement on its National Determined
Contribution in full.
Source: UNDP