Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR; October 6, 2020 – The Department of Climate Change (DCC) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Laos office co-hosted a workshop to discuss two key important documents for climate change work in the country. The morning session was focused on validating the Lao PDR 2020 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) that incorporated feedback and comments received from line ministries and development partners during the consultation process. The afternoon session aimed to present five priority areas included in the Lao PDR Green Climate Fund (GCF) Country Program 2020 – 2023 and identify needs that could be supported under the GCF Readiness and Preparatory Program.

The workshop was chaired by Mr. Syamphone Sengchandala, Director-General of DCC, and Dr. Jaeseung Lee, GGGI Country Representative to Lao PDR, and attended by 69 participants from line ministries, mass organizations, development partners, INGOs, and private sector representatives. In his opening remarks, Director-General Syamphone emphasized the importance of all stakeholders providing inputs to the NDC and GCF Country Program. “We (DCC) have been working with GGGI to revise NDC and update GCF Country Program. These two documents are important and will require prompt action from everyone,” said Director-General Syamphone.

Since 2019, GGGI has worked closely with DCC to update the Lao NDC by assessing the current status of targets included in the first NDC, developing GHG emission scenarios, and, through extensive consultations, proposing updated and new targets. As per the Paris Agreement, each Party has to develop its NDC to communicate its commitments every 5 years. Lao PDR submitted its first NDC in 2016 and the 2020 updated version features three greenhouse gas projection scenarios and propose enhanced unconditional and conditional targets for its mitigation efforts. A representative from the British Embassy to Lao PDR also presented the preparation of UNFCCC’s COP 26, taking place in the UK in 2021.

In addition, since 2018, GGGI has worked with DCC, the National Designated Authority (NDA) to GCF, to deliver GCF Readiness projects. The GGGI’s first Readiness project in Laos focused on enhanced access to climate finance in green and resilient cities. The current Readiness project focuses on supporting NDA to operationalize institutional arrangements and enhance the capacity to access GCF. As part of the project, GGGI is supporting NDA to update the Lao PDR GCF Country Program, which features priority areas for 2020 – 2023. The afternoon session provided an opportunity for NDA to identify needs that could be supported through GCF Readiness and Preparatory support, and those needs will be summarized and consolidated in the updated Country Program.

Overall, the full-day workshop had a number of informative presentations followed by very active participation from the audience. Constructive feedback and comments were received from the participants to improve the two documents further. In his closing remarks, Dr. Lee stressed that while NDC communicates commitments and targets for both mitigation and adaptation efforts of Lao PDR, GCF can provide financing support to realize those commitments.