title: Boosting non-state climate action in the European Union
Creators: name: Chan, Sander
name: Bencini, Jacopo
Publisher: name: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/01t3zke88
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Europäische Union
subject: Klimawandel
subject: Governance
subject: Governance
subject: Climate Change
subject: European Union

description: The 2015 Paris Agreement and the accompanying Paris Decision recognise the importance of
 climate actions by non-state actors, such as businesses, civil society organisations,
 cities, regions and cooperative initiatives, to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and to adapt
 to climate change as necessary complements to governmental commitments. Prominent
 international platforms, such as the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA) by
 the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and
 the Climate Initiatives Platform administered by the United Nations Environmental
 Programme/Technical University of Denmark (UNEP/DTU) Partnership, have greatly improved
 the visibility of such actions. <br> Within this dynamic field of non-state climate
 action, non-state actors based in the European Union (EU) can be considered global
 leaders. Actions led by EU-based actors represent most initiatives registered with
 UNFCCC’s NAZCA platform. Moreover, individual member states have played leading roles in
 the Global Climate Action Agenda (also known as the Marrakech Partnership for Global
 Climate Action). A recent study by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and
 the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitk (DIE)
 moreover finds that actions led by EU-based non-state actors are performing well compared
 with the global average (EESC, 2018). <br> However, the implementation of non-state
 actions is not evenly distributed. In absolute terms, existing initiatives in Central and
 Eastern Europe (CEE) are underrepresented. Moreover, few actions led by EU-based non-state
 actors are recorded in international platforms in areas such as forestry, transport and
 construction (EESC, 2018). <br> The need for more, and more effective, non-state actions
 is evident given the fact that current EU climate policies are inconsistent with the goals
 of the Paris Agreement. According to the Climate Action Tracker, the EU’s Nationally
 Determined Contribution (NDC) is insufficient; if all governments had targets similar to
 the EU, global warming could exceed 2°C and possibly even 3°C. <br> Non-state actors
 could make important additional mitigation and adaptation contributions, both directly,
 for example, through new installations, as well as indirectly, for example, by encouraging
 behavioural change. Moreover, they could inspire governments and the EU to be more
 ambitious. However, currently non-state actions are not easy to track. Despite a strong
 focus on climate mitigation, most actions led by EU-based actors do not set clear GHG
 reduction targets. In addition, many relevant actions remain unrecorded. <br> This paper
 explores what is necessary to accelerate non-state actions and enhance their effectiveness
 in the EU and as a solution suggests that a light-touch framework be implemented to
 stimulate bottom-up climate actions. This framework should respond to the needs and
 challenges experienced by a range of stakeholders while building on existing efforts.
 Moreover, a well-designed framework could help address the imbalances identified in this
 study.
description: Briefing Paper, 21/2018