April 28, 2021

Breakout session – Energy sector group

30th April, 2021 The Department of Climate Change under MEIDECC hosted the first of three national virtual consultation workshops in the capital Nuku’alofa this week, to ensure the development of two high level documents. This includes a High-level financing pathways report and a Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) Framework in the context of Tonga’s Second Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The one-day workshop was a collaboration between the Department of Climate Change on behalf of the Government of Tonga and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which was virtually facilitated by UNDP Consultant, Mr. Douglas Marett. The workshop built on the success of Tonga’s submission of its Second NDC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on December 2020.

Participants during the workshop

The workshop allowed participants the opportunity to map out existing and potential pathways of financing actions for the High-Level Financing Pathways. They also identified financing pathways which would be most applicable for financing greenhouse gas mitigation and climate change adaptation actions in their respective sectors of Energy, Agriculture, Forestry & Other Land Uses (AFOLU), Waste, Industrial Processes & Product Uses (IPPU) and in the area of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Special Management Areas (SMAs).

Breakout session – AFOLU sector group

For the pathways for the means of implementation (MOI), participants also mapped out existing and potential reporting pathways for Tonga’s Second NDC and identified the information pathways in which capacity building, technology transfer and finance, (MOI), will be reported by Tonga under the Paris Agreement.

In opening the workshop, the CEO for the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, environment Climate Change and Communication (MEIDECC), Mr.Paula Ma’u acknowledged the participation of stakeholders from across a wide range of government line ministries and departments. Mr. Ma’u stressed the importance of their partnership and continued collaboration and how formulating these two documents will complement the implementation of activities set out in Tonga’s Second NDC.

In his pre-recorded opening remarks, Mr. Levan Bouadze, Resident Representative for UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji, highlighted the importance of access to finance in fulfilling the country’s pledge. He congratulated the Government of Tonga for the submission of the Second NDC in December 2020 and appreciated MEIDECC for their support to implement the Climate Promise Workplan for Tonga.

The workshop was held at the MEIDECC Conference Room Level 2 at the O.G Sanft Building in Nuku’alofa.

CEO for MEIDECC and stakeholders at the workshop

ENDS