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UNDP Launches a NAMAs Sustainable Development Evaluation Tool

UNDP Launches a NAMAs Sustainable Development Evaluation Tool Posted on December 2, 2015

National development objectives provide the context for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and represent a key driver for mitigation actions. In contrast to traditional project-based mitigation actions, NAMAs focus on a paradigm shift by building a sustainable low-carbon structure in climate-relevant sectors.

Since NAMAs are a tool that aims to mitigate climate change while also promoting sustainable development, the measurement and reporting of economic, environmental and social impacts are essential to ensuring the effectiveness of sustainable actions. The challenge was to create a simple but detailed tool that would be an add-on to all existing standards and tools.

The new NAMA Sustainable Development (SD) tool details all the sustainable development benefits, which are currently not possible when using existing tools or standards. The new tool captures the overlapping benefits falling into different domains in order to support project developers when adequately assigning sustainable development benefits.

Photo credit: World Bank

What will the new NAMA Sustainable Development tool do?

  1. Report on all sustainable development domains: environmental conservation, economic growth, poverty reduction and public welfare
  2. Track development over the entire lifetime of a NAMA
    Identify new areas of opportunity
  3. Demonstrate a level of commitment and results achieved to external parties
  4. Give donor institutions the confidence that supported actions will be implemented and that climate financing is being utilized effectively

The UNDP SD tool allows countries to assess the effects of a NAMA on environmental conservation, economic growth, poverty reduction and public welfare and to evaluate the achieved results.

The tool is structured and resourceful, with concrete criteria that define and constitute the main sustainable development elements in a measurable, transparent, and user-friendly way. Guidelines for the application of the tool are being provided in simple language and with step-by-step instructions.