Project progress indicator

IMPACT is a three year project (October 2016 – September 2019) and is now in the Implementation Phase. The Inception Phase concluded in 2017 following a series of workshops in the Pacific, West Africa, and the Caribbean, which gathered representatives from government ministries and agencies, scientific institutions and civil society organisations from a number of countries to jointly determine how the project can best serve the national circumstances and support needs of countries in each region.

 

About IMPACT

IMPACT is a cross-cutting, multi-faceted project that is implemented by a wide range of institutions in three regions – the Pacific, West Africa and the Caribbean. It aims to strengthen capacities in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to co-develop scientific outputs and knowledge products and to support relevant actors to make use of them in the development and implementation of transformational climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. Our approach also aims to enhance access to international climate finance and better equip SIDS and LDCs in engaging in UNFCCC negotiations.

IMPACT is funded by the German Ministry of Environment as part of its International Climate Initiative.

More details

 

Project updates

Study: How to identify suitable climate adaptation measures?

The need to adapt to the impacts of current and future climate change in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is urgently felt and recognised. But how can suitable measures and responses be identified and how can decision-making support tools help in this endeavour? Our researchers currently study how suitable adaptation measures are identified, and once compared with other potential measures, prioritised over others. The first review (the Caribbean) will be completed in May and findings will presented at the Adaptation Futures 2018 conference in Cape Town, South Africa in June. You will be able to access the findings of the review on this website.

 

Resource page: Loss and Damage

Loss and Damage refers to the impacts of climate change that can no longer be avoided through adaptation or mitigation. It is one of the key issues for vulnerable countries, the stakeholders of the IMPACT project, who have contributed the least to climate change.

IMPACT supports SIDS and LDCs in their call on the developed world to provide support to cope with Loss and Damage, which otherwise threatens their economies, cultures and the lives of their people. This page provides background material and key resources, including scientific studies and briefing material relating to the policy process under the UNFCCC.

 

Online tool: Regional climate projections for Africa

Many policymakers and researchers have to deal with climate related questions in fields such as agriculture, energy or human health but finding easily accessible and user-friendly climate projections can be a challenge. RegioClim is an online tool that gives non-expert users simple access to regional climate projections for African countries for five climate indicators: temperature, hot extremes, precipitation, wet extremes and 5-day wet extremes. Its key feature is the ability to access projections not just at the national but also at the province level. The tool offers great flexibility in terms of selecting seasonal data, configurable depending on seasonal change in question – rainy or dry season, country vs. sector specific or crop growing season.

Initially developed in the context of the PAS-PNA project, the tool was expanded to ensure that it could be used by IMPACT’s African LDC stakeholders.

 

Climate diplomacy

What the Caribbean should consider in 2018 and on the road to COP24

In this video produced by 1.5 To Stay Alive ahead of the UNFCCC SB48 meeting in Bonn, IMPACT project partners Leon Charles and Spencer Thomas (CAA Inc.) present the agenda for the coming weeks and months, and outline the challenges and the opportunities that the Caribbean must consider in order to secure a satisfactory outcome from forthcoming global negotiations

 

International Climate Finance

One of the key aspects of our climate diplomacy work under IMPACT is to support negotiators, government ministries and delegates of a number of LDCs and SIDS in navigating and shaping the rules guiding of UNFCCC Funds, including the Green Climate Fund. By enhancing their contribution to defining COP guidance and governance systems of the funds, vulnerable countries can improve access modalities to funding and raise the ambition of the funds to finance climate-resilient, low carbon development and therefore strongly contribute to achieving Paris Agreement goals. Since the establishment of the GCF in 2010, we have been supporting SIDS and LDC board members to sustain their active engagement and to enable them to participate equitably in the work of the board, including its technical panels and committees.

 

Climate Analytics input to the Talanoa Dialogue

April 2018 Climate Analytics’ submission to the Talanoa Dialogue summarises the latest scientific findings relating to the 1.5°C limit. It outlines what climate impacts are being experienced around the globe at the current level of warming of around 1°C, such as extreme weather events, more intense tropical cyclones, impacts on oceans systems and health. It also discusses the benefits of the 1.5°C limit in terms of avoided impacts, especially on the most vulnerable communities, and what is needed to limit warming to 1.5°C.

Key priorities of Least Developed Countries in 2018

March 2018 LDC Chair Gebru Jember Endalew and LDC Advisor Manjeet Dhakal outline priorities and expectations of the Least Developed Countries with regards to the Paris Agreement rule book, Loss and Damage, climate finance, pre-2020 ambition and the Talanoa Dialogue. Climate Analytics supports the LDC Group in the international climate negotiations with strategic and technical advice.

Synthesis of the Least Developed Countries’ NDCs

October 2017 This analysis, done at the request of the Chair of Least Developed Countries Group, covers the NDCs of the 47 LDCs through a systematic review of their mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and means of implementation components.

 

Blogs

How to ensure solutions really work – key questions for the Suva Expert Dialogue on Loss and Damage
As experts gather at the Suva Expert Dialogue 2-3 May in Bonn to discuss possible solutions to loss and damage in developing countries, it is worthwhile to highlight key questions that must be taken into account: responsibility, feasibility and affordability.

The Suva Expert Dialogue: pushing the conversation on Loss and Damage
The Suva Expert Dialogue 2-3 May in Bonn, and the technical paper it is meant to inform, are important next steps to furthering collective understanding of approaches to address loss and damage, associated finance needs, and sources of support. Here’s what to expect from the two-day meeting.

Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit – a key SDG enabler
Summary of an event organised by the Government of Belize at the UN Headquarters in New York, which looked at how limiting warming to 1.5°C, as stated in the Paris Agreement, is intrinsically linked to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and how best to align the two agendas to maximise synergies.

Big change after the big storm: Post-disaster transformative adaptation in Small Island Developing States
Presenting a disaster as an ‘opportunity’ is clearly a sensitive and emotive issue. But when an energy infrastructure is in tatters should we not view this as a chance to make a fundamental transition to a low carbon future?

More blogs

 

Resource page: 1.5°C temperature limit - key facts

This page is an information pool for material around the 1.5°C temperature limit in the Paris Agreement.

  • Why 1.5°C? Science, impacts and risks
  • What will it take to limit warming to 1.5°C?
  • What are the emissions reduction targets and 1.5°C pathways?

 

Workshops

In collaboration with partner organisations, IMPACT organises regular workshops for stakeholders in the three regions – Pacific, Caribbean and West Africa, and holds regular meetings of its Advisory Committee during UNFCCC sessions. You can find more information, photos and reports from these workshops here.

 

Events

We organise and support public events to share the latest scientific information about how climate change affects vulnerable countries to amplify their call for urgent and ambitious climate action. You can find more information, photos and presentations from events organised through the IMPACT project here.

 

IMPACT and the NDC Partnership

Climate Analytics is part of the NDC Support Cluster, established by the German Ministry of Environment as part of its International Climate Initiative (ICI), which aims to promote coordinated consultations and maximise synergies in the partner countries. Organisations connected with implementing agencies from all regions exchange and cooperate to deliver timely and tailored support to developing countries in the implementation of their NDCs.

In an analysis prepared for the NDC Partnership our experts looked into the recent developments in terms of NDCs submission and renewables deployment. They also outlined a number of instruments that can be utilised to decrease the gap between current emissions trends and the Paris Agreement compatible emissions pathways.

 

Recent peer-reviewed articles

Partner Organisations

Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC)

 

Le Comité Permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS)

 

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)

 

West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL)

 

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research

 

Charles & Associates Inc (Grenada)