Macedonia, Montenegro among only 16 countries to set climate targets to meet pledges under Paris Agreement

FYR Macedonia and Montenegro are among 16 countries out of 197 parties to the Paris Agreement which set economy-wide emissions reduction targets under domestic laws or policies to be consistent with those set in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), according to a policy brief titled Aligning national and international climate targets.

Setting targets under national laws and policies is crucial to the credibility of countries’ commitments to the Paris Agreement, as set out in their NDCs. The policy brief compares the quantified targets under NDCs and national laws and policies.

Aside from FYR Macedonia and Montenegro, the group of 16 countries also includes Algeria, Canada, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Samoa, Singapore, and Tonga.

While 157 of 197 Parties to the Agreement have set economy-wide emissions reduction targets in their NDCs, only 58 have done so within domestic laws or policies; only 16 of those are consistent with those set in the NDCs. These inconsistencies create doubts about the likelihood of realizing the goals of the Agreement, the report finds.

According to study, more than 60% of economy-wide and sectoral targets in national laws and policies are set to 2020, while the target year for most NDCs is 2030: 14 countries have set 2030 targets in laws and policies, and 16 countries and the EU have set economy-wide targets in laws and policies beyond 2030.

The policy brief was released by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, both at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the World Resources Institute.

The authors of the report said that monitoring international progress on commitments is a challenge because in many cases there is insufficient data.

Macedonia starts drafting the Fourth National Communication under the UNFCCC

Skopje has recently hosted a kickoff meeting of the project for the preparation of the Fourth National Communication (NC) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Third Biennial Update Report (BUR). The project is implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and UNDP.

As part of the project, a national greenhouse gas (GHG) emission database will be updated using modern and innovative tools, criteria for setting priority mitigation measures will be defined, while the Biennial Report will further support the process of establishing a system for monitoring, reporting and verifying GHG emissions.