National Stakeholders Workshop on Tonga’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)

CEO Mr. Puala Ma’u deliver the opening speech for the NDC workshop

The Department of Climate Change hosted a National Workshop on Tonga’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Review Report and Recommendations for the 2020 Enhanced NDC, in partnership with the Regional Pacific NDC Hub through its implementation partner Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), from the 30th– 31st of July 2020.

Nationally Determined Contributions are actions that Parties to the Paris Agreement plan to undertake to address climate change. Tonga’s contributions to address climate change are therefore ‘nationally determined’ according to its national circumstances and priorities.

Participants from the Energy, Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU) and Adaptation Sectors

A country’s NDC can include information on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology transfer, capacity building and transparency. The collective mitigation actions of Parties in all NDCs will determine whether the world will achieve the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement – to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 above pre-industrial levels.

In 2015, Tonga developed its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) and submitted it to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Tonga ratified the Paris Agreement on the 21st of September 2016 and it came into force on the 4th of November 2016, therefore Tonga’s INDC automatically became Tonga’s first NDC.

The national workshop brought together key stakeholders from the 4 key sectors; Energy, IPPU (Industrial Processes and Product Use), AFOLU (Agriculture, Forest and Other Land Uses) and Waste, to seek inputs for the review of Tonga’s 2015 INDC targets and provide recommendations for development of the 2020 Enhanced NDC, over the course of the two days.  Prior to the national workshop, a meeting with the Joint National Action Plan (JNAP) Technical Team was conducted on the 24th of July, to present the NDC Review Report and to receive feedback and comments.

Participants from the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU),Waste and Adaptation Sectors

From this workshop, the Department of Climate Change expects to draft the 2020 Enhanced NDC in the third quarter of this year. The draft 2020 Enhanced NDC will be shared with all relevant stakeholders again for feedback and consensus on its contents prior to seeking approval from cabinet and submission to the UNFCCC Secretariat by December 2020.

The NDC Review process and report is one of the deliverables of the project Review and Enhancement of Tonga’s Nationally Determined Contributions, funded by the Regional Pacific NDC Hub’s. The workshop was facilitated virtually by Ms. Katerina Syngellakis (GGGI Pacific Regional Advisor), Mr. Jan Stelter (GGGI Senior Analyst) and the Department of Climate Change.

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Issued by Department of Climate Change