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MONGOLIA DEVELOPS A POLICY DOCUMENT ON ITS INDC FOR THE PARIS AGREEMENT

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA
Aug 26, 2019

On Aug 26, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Environment Climate Fund hosted the 3rd working group meeting to develop a policy document on Mongolia’s INDC for the Paris Agreement.

The aim of the meeting was to provide updates on ongoing cross-sectoral activities to develop a policy document on Mongolia’s INDC for the Paris Agreement and receive feedback from multiple stakeholders. All sectors, including energy, agriculture, transportation, industry, waste, and construction, introduced their working group activities implemented to date, findings, and recommendations to reduce sectoral GHG emissions. GGGI Mongolia introduced two sectors’ (Agriculture and IPPU) assessment work done by consultants during the WG meeting, which are highly valued by MET and EFC.

Mongolia’s NDC elaboration and update process for the electricity and heating supply sector is being supported by the regional project ‘Capacity Development for Climate Policy in the Countries of Southeastern, Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia, Phase III (CDCPIII)’ as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH together with New Climate Institute (NCI). GIZ and NCI have developed a Mitigation Scenario Modelling tool “PROSPECTS+” which is being piloted in Georgia and now will be applied in Mongolia. The Government of Mongolia officially recognized and accepted to use this model to develop the next round of its NDC commitments. GGGI is responsible for developing and supporting NDC update and elaboration processes for the Agriculture and IPPU sectors, with technical backstopping provided by GIZ and NCI.

Although IPPU sector makes a small portion of the total GHG emission in Mongolia, it has been increasing rapidly year to year. According to the Mongolia INDC document, IPPU sector emitted 326.94 Gr CO2-eq. in 1990, which increase by 8 times to 2,732.24 Gr CO2-eq in 2012. The Agriculture sector is responsible for the half of the Mongolia’s GHG emissions. It is expected to increase as livestock numbers increase year on year.

In general, it is very challenging to estimate the necessary time and capacities needed for the both sectoral analyses and planning in the frame of the NDC update and in view of elaborating decarbonization pathways based on long-term sectoral climate mitigation goals. Therefore, an objective of the process is to initiate sectoral planning, to raise the awareness of all relevant stakeholders, and to achieve a full overview of all current policies, sector goals, and scheduled sectoral planning processes.

Background:
Mongolia is quickly emerging as a pioneer for climate action in the region, from launching the first Partnership Plan in the Asia-Pacific region, to adopting a whole-of-society approach to take real and sustained climate action, to embracing technologies to facilitate cooperation and coordination on NDC actions.

In September 2016, Mongolia ratified its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in accordance with the Green Development Policy (2014) and its Action Plan (2016). Mongolia’s overall commitment is to reduce 14% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2030 compared to Business-As-Usual (BAU). The Government of Mongolia is currently under the process of updating and elaborating its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) target into NDC, aiming for more ambitious targets, with a vision to mobilize increased green financial resources from climate related funds. In the INDCs the potential impact of emission reduction measures in agriculture sector could not be estimated due to lack of available background information and are thus not included in the indicative estimate.