The Government of Mongolia approved its revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement on climate change on 20 November 2019. Mongolia’s NDC contributes to the implementation of the Paris Agreement by setting a more ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction target and defining concrete measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It commits to reduce GHG emissions by 7.2% in 2020; by 12.3% in 2025; and by 22.7% in 2030 compared to the baseline scenario. The energy sector will contribute with 66.7% of the reductions in GHG emissions, agriculture with 31.3%, the industrial sector with 1.4% and the waste sector with 0.6%. Mongolia’s annual GHG emissions were estimated at 34,482.73 thousand tons of CO2eq in 2014, with 50% of these coming from the energy sector, 48.5% from agriculture, 1% from industry, and the remaining 0.5% from the waste sector[1]. The country is one of the countries with high GHG emissions per capita and emissions intensity per GDP despite its small contribution to the global GHG emissions (less than 0.1%).

Air pollution and climate change are closely linked because i) the sources of air pollutants and greenhouse gases is in many cases the same and ii) some pollutants (Short-Lived Climate Pollutants) directly contribute to both air pollution and its effects on human health and climate change. The results from assessment that was conducted by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition has shown that in Mongolia the major sources of air pollution, including coal burning in the residential sector for heating, electricity generation and transport, are also the major sources of GHGs (as stated above, in addition to the agriculture sector). Mongolia is land-locked country with abundant resources of minerals, including coal. Due to continental climate of the country, space heating is essential for surviving very cold and long cold season that lasts over 8 months. Access to the district heating system in Ulaanbaatar and other areas is not equal for urban citizens due to the limited infrastructure capacity and poorly development urban plans. In Ulaanbaatar city alone, 218,665 households (56,1% of the city population, as of 2018) resided in ger districts are not connected to the district heating system and use refined coal briquettes for space heating and cooking.

GGGI is collaborates with the UNEP the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) under the NDC Partnership as part of the Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP) to support the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia through project implementation of“Capacity building for the development of analysis of emission and mitigation options of greenhouse gases and air pollutants in Mongolia”.  Objectives of the project are i) to assess how the analysis of emissions and mitigation options in key source sectors can be improved, ii) to build capacity of national institutions, particularly the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) to develop and sustain these analyses, iii) to feed results from the project in documents related to NDC implementation (e.g. sectoral implementation plans, long-term strategies, etc.), and iv) strengthening the link between air pollution and climate change mitigation, highlighting the local benefits that can be achieved through the implementation of Mongolia’s NDC.  The Project Implementation period is divided in two phases from September 2020 to October 2021:: Phase I  (until end of February 2021) and Phase II (until end of September 2021).

[1] Government of Mongolia, NDC Executive Summary, 2019

Impact: Government capacity strengthened to integrate GHG and air pollutant mitigation in climate change planning.

Outcome: Improved technical skills to integrate GHG and air pollutant emissions though using LEAP-IBC tool for climate change planning and policy development.

Project Outputs completed in 2020:

Policy Assignments:

• Review existing analysis for GHG Inventory and NDC mitigation assessment – methods and tools used to estimate GHG emissions in the national GHG inventory and to develop projections as part of the NDC (Phase I).
• Joint analysis together with the SEI on how to improve GHG emission assessment and mitigation potential for across sectors; and contribute to the SEI’s report on where and how GHG Inventory and mitigation assessment can be improved. SEI report will provide general recommendations across sectors and specific recommendations on at least 3 sectors, including assessment of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) reductions can be incorporated into climate change planning. (Phase I).
• Preparation of relevant training materials for in-country trainings on use of LEAP-IBC tool for assessment of emissions and mitigation potential in the chosen sectors.

i. Green Investments: 

N/A

ii. Capacity Building and Knowledge Products:  

• Consultation workshop with Developments Partners on NDC Implementation in Mongolia.