NDC enhancements in Georgia

The government of Georgia adopts updated NDC, climate strategy 2030 and climate action plan 2021-2023.

In April 2021, the Government of Georgia  adopted its updated nationally determined contribution (NDC) and the ‘Climate Strategy 2030 and Action Plan 2021-2023’ (CSAP) as an NDC implementation tool. The implementation will be coordinated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and overseen by the inter-ministerial high-level Climate Change Council. The development of both documents was supported by the IKI supported project ‘Developing Capacities for Climate Policy in Southeast & Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia (CDCPIII)’.

The updated NDC has enhanced, in terms of mitigation, its unconditional (35%) and conditional (50-57%) GHG emissions reduction targets by 2030 compared to 1990 levels,  while in terms of adaptation, it commits to improve its adaptive capacity to climate change by mobilising domestic and international resources for the sectors particularly vulnerable to climate change. Additionally, the NDC contains sectoral mitigation targets, gender and climate change provisions to enhance the role of women as change agents through their participation in decision-making processes. It further plans to encourage gender analysis, capacity building, and knowledge sharing in the frame of climate change-related projects.

The CSAP covers seven sectors, namely: Energy Generation and Transmission, Transport, Buildings, Industry, Agriculture, Waste Management and Forestry. The Action Plan also contains sector specific targets, objectives, and mitigation measures relevant to the period 2021-2023. It is envisaged to re-examine the CSAP every three years. The next iteration will be prepared in 2023 for the period 2024-2026.

Participatory approach

The NDC and the CSAP development processes had a participatory approach from the beginning. The development of both documents was officially initiated on the 18^th September 2018 at “Georgia’s First Climate Change Conference,” where deputy ministers from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, and Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure took part in an open dialogue. The conference was followed by intensive stakeholder dialogues and Sectoral Technical Working Groups meetings. Representatives of the public institutions, Civil Society Organisations, private companies and academia were involved in the development process to different extents.

In January 2020, the Georgian Government established a high-level coordination mechanism, the “Climate Change Council,” to coordinate effective implementation of Georgia’s climate change policy and climate change-related international commitments. The Council has ten permanent members from key ministries in Georgia. In addition to this, the regions and municipalities are represented through the Heads of the Governments of the Adjara and Apkhazeti Autonomous Republics and the Chairperson of the Coordination Team of the Covenant of Mayors Signatory Municipalities.