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.

The Adaptation Map provides an overview of adaptation actions that have been taken by 11 countries in West Africa and the Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) since 2010.

Its main purpose is to act as a library, fostering inter-regional learning on adaptation action. The map includes policies, strategies, programs and projects. Adaptation actions are categorised by country (regional actions are also included) and by sector.

The current round of national emission reduction pledges (Nationally Determined Contributions/NDCs) will lead to about 3°C of warming by the end of the century.

This tool shows the additional economic damages Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) face in a 3°C world compared with 1.5°C, the limit set out in the Paris Agreement.

Other tools developed under IMPACT can be found here.

This page provides background material and key resources, including scientific studies and briefing material relating to progress on Loss and Damage under the UNFCCC.

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.

For many years, small islands have called for the market mechanisms to go beyond offsetting to deliver measurable, net mitigation that the atmosphere actually sees: a real reduction in emissions.

Market mechanisms, or more broadly emission trading schemes, have been around for a long time, including, for example the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol. Ongoing negotiations on the rules for markets under the Paris Agreement provide an important moment to reflect on what we want markets to deliver, and to design a system that goes beyond simple offsetting.

The submission by the Alliance of Small Islands States lays out how market mechanisms should be designed.

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.

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.

BLOG: The role of finance and investment in meeting the 1.5°C goal

Five key messages from the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C on the role of investments and finance for mitigation and adaptation, in particular for the most vulnerable countries.

En route to Katowice: Negotiators from Least Developed Countries prepare for COP24

For the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), continued engagement in negotiations on the Paris Agreement implementation guidelines is vital to ensure it reflects priorities, needs and the attainment of sustainable development for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries.

Regular, in-person engagement of the LDC Ministers and other high-level representatives has been critical in contributing to and influencing the Paris Agreement work programme. In October 2018, around 30 ministers and high-level representatives met in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, to prepare for the climate talks in Katowice, Poland. Climate Analytics has been supporting this process in recent years, also as part of the IMPACT project.

Recent briefings produced under the IMPACT project:

• Keeping up with the renewable revolution – updating the NDCs
• Loss and Damage Costing and Financing Mechanisms: Caribbean Outlook
• Debt for climate swaps: Caribbean outlook
• Why using blue carbon to offset emissions undermines the 1.5°C limit
• Why the 1.5°C limit is crucial to avoid worst climate impacts on oceans
• Latest science on tropical cyclones

More briefings

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?

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.

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.

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)