February 25, Funafuti, Tuvalu – During the last Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu in 2019 a sign welcomed the Pacific leaders: “Before us we see the devastating effects of climate change on our children; sea level rising, land erosion, cyclone damage. Threats such as these are ever present for Pacific Island nations. Remember: “We must act before it is too late. We must save Tuvalu to save the world.”
Leading by example, the Government of Tuvalu continues to take ambitious climate actions through its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). A week-long inception mission was led in Tuvalu last week, including a day-long workshop on Tuesday, 25 February.
Discussions underway with stakeholders from the Tuvalu Government, private and public sectors.
Tuvalu’s Department of Climate Change and Disaster hosted this inception workshop for the preparation of an NDC implementation roadmap, NDC investment plan and projects pipeline. This is supported by the Regional Pacific NDC Hub through technical assistance from the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).
The workshop’s objectives were to ensure that Tuvalu’s key stakeholders have a common understanding to develop its NDC implementation roadmap and investment plans in the transport (maritime, land and air transport) and energy efficiency sectors, as well to start collecting information on the priority needs in Tuvalu. A fundamental component of this exercise was to exchange information and receive feedback from the national stakeholders on Tuvalu’s transport and energy efficiency sectors, addressing the most pressing needs in Tuvalu and looking together for solutions with new policies, actions and projects.
The land transport sector is a priority in Tuvalu’s NDC.
Ms. Pepetua Latasi, Director of Tuvalu Department of Climate Change and Disaster started the workshop with a strong statement: “Tuvalu is an LDC (Least Developed Country) and SIDS (Small Island Developing State). The impacts that we face are enormous and is way beyond the capacity of the country to adapt to or do mitigation work to reduce emissions in comparison to the global scale.” “Since the establishment of the Pacific NDC Hub, we have requested the NDC Hub to provide technical assistance to prepare the NDC roadmap, and at the same time we realized the importance of identifying targets from different sectors and what are the investments we can put through to support these sectors”, she said.
During the week-long mission, the NDC Hub also carried out a series of stakeholder consultations with representatives from the Government departments, the Development Bank of Tuvalu, private sector companies and development partners.
With the global commitment to limit average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees and potentially further to 2 degrees, country NDCs are at the heart of achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Tuvalu represents only a small proportion of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. However, this has not stopped this Large Ocean State from being a champion in climate change mitigation and showing the world that ambitious targets are feasible.
Impact of sea level rise in Tuvalu causing coastal erosion of the shoreline.
This project will initially see the formulation of an NDC implementation roadmap for the transport and energy efficiency sectors, and development of an NDC investment plan to channel in secure and reliable financing from private, public, donor and multilateral funders.
Next, a pipeline of bankable projects that reflect climate mitigation and SDG co-benefits priorities in Tuvalu will be prepared. This will undergo a broader stakeholder consultation with the public sector institutions, civil society organizations, and private sector companies in the transport and energy efficiency sectors.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are national climate change mitigation plans which highlight country’s climate actions through climate related targets, policies and projects. As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, countries are required to prepare, communicate and maintain successive NDCs in contribution to global climate action.
The Regional Pacific NDC Hub is implemented through a partnership between GIZ, GGGI, SPC and SPREP in contribution to NDC Partnership, with financial support from Germany, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australian Governments.