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Strategic Objective

Building on Strong Domestic Action, Lead International Actions to Combat Climate Change

Strategic Objective

Lead Office: Bureau for Economic Growth, Education (USAID), and Environment and Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment (State)

Themes:

Natural Resources and Environment International Affairs

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Overview
Progress Update

Overview

Addressing climate change successfully demands action at home and more intensive engagement with other countries. Domestically, by 2020, the United States plans to meet its commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels.

Internationally, as a result of recent progress in negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the international climate regime now reflects pledges through 2020 by more than 80 countries constituting about 80 percent of global emissions, including the world’s major emitters, and holds countries accountable for their actions through regular and robust reporting and reviews. In December 2015, the 195 countries party to the UNFCCC are to conclude a new agreement addressing the global climate response in the post-2020 era. This will be a major milestone in the effort to combat climate change over the next two decades. Simultaneously, we will enhance engagement bilaterally, plurilaterally, and multilaterally to deliver results that will contribute to an ambitious and effective global response to climate change, through 2020 and beyond.

External factors that could affect our efforts include negotiating stances of other countries and domestic actions some countries take to combat climate change. The private sector plays a major role, as investment decisions such as the choice of technologies for new power generation and design of new cars and trucks can have a climate impact for years to come. Also, partnering with countries to encourage a low-emissions development path will be more successful when working with foreign governments that make combating climate change a priority.

Strategies for Achieving the Objective

Through the President’s Climate Action Plan, the President’s Global Climate Change Initiative, and USAID’s Climate Change and Development Strategy, the United States has made low-emissions, climate-resilient sustainable economic growth a priority in our diplomacy and development. Our efforts involve two major areas of engagement: (1) lowering the atmospheric accumulation rate of greenhouse gases that cause climate change; and (2) helping societies anticipate and incorporate plans for responding to potential climate change impacts. The United States is leading efforts to address climate change through international climate negotiations while enhancing multilateral and bilateral engagement with major economies. It is also enhancing partnerships with other key countries and regions. The U.S. is focusing its efforts on actions that support a successful global approach to climate change, as reflected in discussions leading up to the Paris climate conference in 2015, and for subsequent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sessions. These efforts deliver results that contribute to an ambitious and effective global response to climate change to the year 2020 and beyond.

The U.S. is building partnerships to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants and from deforestation. For example, the U.S. works to secure a global phase-down of hydro-fluoro-carbons through the Montreal Protocol. If implemented, this could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 90 gigatons of CO2 equivalent by 2050. The U.S. is also building capacity for countries to undertake low-emission development policies. This work includes assisting countries to increase their capacity for cross-sector planning and formulating sectoral policies for low-emissions growth. Other efforts aim to expand clean energy generation and transmission and to increase energy efficiency while phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption. This requires mobilizing public and private investments in cleaner energy, implementing enhanced land-use practices, and building public-private partnerships that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

The Department of State and USAID’s climate-smart agriculture efforts involve implementing technologies that increase climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. State and USAID are also working to promote sustainable land uses, which combine climate change mitigation and resilience with long-term growth. Additionally, State and USAID support adaptation planning processes in vulnerable countries and communities by developing support tools that use climate science and improve access to data. These integrate climate data into planning decisions. They also strengthen public participation in climate change planning, especially by women, vulnerable populations, indigenous groups, and minorities. State and USAID back actions that increase climate resilience with respect to water security, land management, disaster planning, financial risk management, and management of biodiversity and natural resources.

The United States supports bilateral and multilateral programs by working with the most vulnerable communities, least developed and developing nations, and the major greenhouse gas emitters. Among the programs and efforts to achieve their overall climate change objectives, State and USAID have chosen to highlight efforts to support Low Emission Development Strategies (LEDS) as a cross-cutting Agency Priority Goal. Through LEDS assistance, State and USAID seek to guide policy-makers in analyzing, formulating, and making policy decisions enabling them to develop along a lower emission pathway, which contributes to greenhouse gas reduction efforts. The main program for providing LEDS Assistance, the Enhancing Capacity for LEDS (EC-LEDS) program is a unique State and USAID partnership that blends their respective strengths in diplomacy and development. EC-LEDS stands as a key element of U.S. climate assistance, alongside their critical efforts including: (1) the Major Economies Forum; (2) Clean Energy Ministerial; (3) Climate and Clean Air Coalition; (4) Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA)2020; and (5) a range of multilateral funds, such as the Clean Investment Funds and funds focusing on adaptation such as the Least Developed Countries Fund and the Special Climate Change Fund.

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Progress Update

USAID and the Department of State are making significant progress in implementing this strategic goal and objective. The U.S. government plays a leadership role in addressing climate change through international climate negotiations, while enhancing multilateral and bilateral engagement with major economies and enhancing partnerships with other key countries and regions. As part of this effort, the U. S. government is deeply engaged with major economies to secure mitigation contributions well before the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in Paris in 2015. There has also been significant progress on non-UNFCCC fronts (for example, the United Nations Environment Programme’s Climate and Clean Air Coalition, TFA 2020, Power Africa, The Global Resilience Partnership, Climate Services Partnership, and the new Public-Private Partnership for Climate Data: Tools for Resilient Development announcement by President Obama at the 2014 UN Climate Summit). The Department of State and USAID have determined that performance towards this objective is making noteworthy progress.

Building Capacity for Low Emission Development (Agency Priority Goal):

There is strong progress on the LEDS Agency Priority Goal (APG). The focus of the joint Department of State and USAID APG is to enable economic growth together with significant reductions in national emissions trajectories through 2020 and the longer term by supporting the development and implementation of LEDS. Specifically, this APG measures the progress of EC-LEDS and the multilateral Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP). All 25 of the country programs under EC-LEDS have transitioned from developing Agreed Work Programs with the partner countries to implementing the agreed activities in these work programs. The Department and USAID met the end of their fiscal year target ahead of schedule for the number of country programs initiating technical assistance.

The EC-LEDS program is now well into the implementation phase. Overall progress on implementation is measured on an annual basis. The current APG builds on the previous Goal and focuses on areas identified as key to successful LEDS development and implementation. USAID and the Department worked with each partner country team very closely to determine achievable and ambitious targets for their program. In FY 2014, U.S. government technical assistance resulted in a combined total of 15 milestones achieved, exceeding the combined total target of 14. For LEDS development, the U.S. government team achieved nine major milestones, falling one short of the target of 10. The U.S. government team exceeded its target of four major milestones with a result of six. This, in part, highlighted a speedier transition that originally anticipated from LEDS development to LEDS implementation.

LEDS Global Partnership (Agency Priority Goal):

Founded by the Department of State, the LEDS GP is a multilateral platform for enhanced coordination, information exchange, and cooperation among countries and international programs working to advance low emission climate resilient growth. The LEDS GP is a full-fledged global initiative supported by three regional platforms and more than 140 member governments, multilateral organizations, and implementing partners. This success was a result of strong support from the Department of State, USAID, interagency leadership and staff, and very strong interest from international partners. Participation in the LEDS GP and associated capacity building and trainings is significantly ahead of the pace outlined in the quarterly APG targets. Security concerns in Kenya, however, caused a significant delay in holding the annual LEDS GP meeting in June 2014. As a result, the fourth annual world-wide meeting was relocated to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from August 26 - 29, 2014.

Feedback collected at the events illustrates the ways in which participation helped strengthen individuals’ capacity and knowledge, and application into national processes. For example, one participant in the Manila workshop noted that “the workshop has helped in terms of the National Energy Policy which was undertaken in the last quarter of 2013,” building upon the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, the Biofuels Law of 2007, the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, and implementation of the 2010 Feed-In Tariff, leading into preparation of the Philippines’ Third National Communication and the Biennial Update Report during the FY 2014 period.

The LEDS GP has also conducted several Remote Expert Assistance on LEDS (REAL) projects that have provided assistance directly to government agencies. In addition, a number of countries have reported back to the LEDS GP Secretariat concrete examples of how they have meaningfully applied capacity that was gained through the LEDS GP. For example, the Government of Ghana is applying a new tool provided through the LEDS GP, a Development Impact Analysis tool, to inform LEDS-related planning in Ghana.

Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 (TFA 2020):

TFA 2020 is a public-private partnership founded by the United States and the Consumer Goods Forum. Its members take voluntary actions, individually and in combination, aimed at reducing tropical deforestation associated with the sourcing of key commodities. TFA 2020 brings together critical stakeholders to tackle commodity-driven tropical deforestation using a range of market, policy, and communications approaches. Since 2012, the alliance has expanded to include 39 members, including the governments of the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Liberia, Indonesia and Norway, as well as private sector and civil society partners such as McDonald’s, Unilever, Cargill, the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Federation, and others.

Since the creation of TFA 2020, the United States has played a leadership role in standing up the organizational structure by providing funding for the interim Secretariat; convening key partners; communicating on TFA 2020 at international fora; and providing financial and technical support to key initiatives. TFA 2020 is well-integrated into the United Nations Climate Summit process as well as in the field.

Most recently, the U.S. government, led by USAID and the Department of State, is: (1) working with key private sector partners in Indonesia to develop deforestation-free palm oil production commitments; (2) building TFA 2020 partnerships around beef, soy, and palm oil development while building secure, safe communities in Colombia; and (3) engaging with private sector, government, and civil society partners in West and Central Africa to develop strong best practices for palm oil development that can be scaled to other commodities and other regions. For example, the USAID Indonesia Forest and Climate Support project supports spatial planning in eight landscapes to set aside primary and secondary forest areas for conservation and identify deforested and degraded areas for agricultural expansion.

The U.S. government made an important contribution under TFA 2020 - the Global Forest Watch 2.0 (GFW), a data and public communications tool that provides open access to real-time information on deforestation. Anyone at any time can see how much deforestation has occurred in any tropical forest down to a 500 square meter area with updates every 16 days. GFW has dramatically increased transparency of global forest change, allowing governments and businesses to see the impacts of their commitments to stop deforestation and improve forest management, and to monitor how successful they are. USAID is providing 5.5 million dollars over four years—leveraging over 30 million dollars in private sector and other donor funding—to support capacity development for governments and communities to access and utilize forest information through GFW.

In addition, TFA 2020 will launch a global Secretariat hosted by the World Economic Forum in Geneva to strengthen the worldwide coalition and deepen regional partnerships. The Secretariat will build upon the successes and best practices of individual partners, identify and address areas in which the partners are not yet working. It will also innovate new, system-wide solutions to the complex challenges of deforestation-free soy, beef, palm oil, and pulp and paper supply chains.

Global Resilience Partnership:

To enable the most vulnerable to build resilience and break free from the cycle of crisis, USAID, together with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, are pioneering the Global Resilience Partnership (Resilience Partnership). The Resilience Partnership aims to help millions of vulnerable people in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and South and Southeast Asia better adapt to shocks and stresses, whether climate-driven or otherwise. With an initial commitment of $150 million, the Resilience Partnership will invest in a more secure future by helping the global community pivot from being reactive in the wake of disaster to driving evidence-based investments that enable regions, cities, communities, and households to better manage and adapt to inevitable shocks.

The Resilience Partnership launched the Global Resilience Challenge (Challenge)—a three-stage grant competition calling for multi-sectoral teams to collaborate on innovative solutions to the toughest resilience challenges in the three focus regions. The Challenge is the Resilience Partnership’s first activity. The Challenge will bring together multi-disciplinary teams to collectively identify and diagnose the toughest resilience problems and then develop viable, locally driven, and high-impact solutions. The Challenge will promote resilience to a range of shocks and stresses by developing and testing novel solutions that address local contexts and, with dedicated public and private funding, it will scale the most promising solutions region-wide in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. The Challenge was launched in September 2014 and received about 500 applications. Teams selected to advance to Stage Two will be announced in early 2015.

Scaling Up Adaptation Solutions and Tools:

Through the Global Climate Change Presidential Initiative, USAID is helping countries integrate approaches to addressing climate risks into their national development plans. USAID’s integration approach focuses on stakeholder engagement by identifying potential climate change impacts to key economic sectors, building consensus on prioritized actions, and empowering ownership of key actors in achieving climate resilient goals. USAID is building the analytical capacity of host country and regional institutions, often requiring interdisciplinary collaboration. USAID is developing climate risk assessments for key sectors for use by national, international, and nongovernmental decision makers. Through the Climate Services Partnership, USAID is building the capacity of national and regional weather services to provide useful and relevant forecasts to decision makers in key economic sectors, often leveraging other assistance efforts. USAID is also working with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature on a five-year program designed to increase input from women and girls into climate change adaptation and mitigation decision-making processes.

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Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal:

Promote the Transition to a Low-Emission, Climate-Resilient World while Expanding Global Access to Sustainable Energy

Statement:

Promote the Transition to a Low-Emission, Climate-Resilient World while Expanding Global Access to Sustainable Energy

Strategic Objectives

Building on Strong Domestic Action, Lead International Actions to Combat Climate Change

Statement:No Data Available

Description:

Strategies for Achieving the Objective

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FY 14-15 Priority Goal: Climate Change

Statement:

Enable economic growth concurrent with significant reductions in national emissions trajectories through 2020 and the longer term by supporting the development and implementation of low emission development strategies (LEDS). By the end of 2015, U.S. bilateral assistance under LEDS will reach at least 25 countries (from the previous baseline of 22 countries) and will result in the achievement of at least 45 major individual country milestones, each reflecting a significant, measureable improvement in that country’s development or implementation of LEDS. Also by the end of 2015, at least 1,200 additional developing country government officials and practitioners (from a baseline of 0) will strengthen their LEDS capacity through participation in the LEDS Global Partnership and that capacity will be meaningfully applied to 25 countries (from a baseline of 0).

Description:

The focus of this Agency Priority Goal (APG) is to enable economic growth concurrent with significant reductions in national emissions trajectories through 2020 and the longer term by supporting the development and implementation of low emission development strategies (LEDS). Specifically, this APG measures the progress of Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) and the multilateral Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP).

Through EC-LEDS, a multiagency U.S. Government team is working with partner countries to identify and advance effective economy-wide LEDS.

The LEDS Global Partnership is a multilateral platform for enhanced coordination, information exchange, and cooperation among countries and international programs working to advance low emission climate resilient growth that the U.S. State Department founded.

Low-emission, climate-resilient sustainable economic growth is highlighted as a U.S. diplomatic and development priority in the U.S. National Security Strategy, the President’s development policy, the President’s Climate Action Plan, and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.

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Promote Energy Security, Access to Clean Energy, and the Transition to a Cleaner Global Economy

Statement:

Promote Energy Security, Access to Clean Energy, and the Transition to a Cleaner Global Economy

Description:

The geopolitics of energy is being transformed, as traditional energy producers address the steeply rising demand from the developing world. Changes in production patterns, such as the Western Hemisphere becoming a larger fossil fuel producer, are altering the global dynamic. The viability of new energy technologies, such as new ways to produce natural gas, and the steep fall in the cost of renewables, are changing energy market trade and consumption patterns.

At the same time, worldwide nearly 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity and 2.7 billion do not have a safe way to cook food. Although Africa has abundant renewable and hydrocarbon potential, 69 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global demand for electricity will grow 70 percent by 2035, faster than any other final form of energy. Over 80 percent of this global growth will be in non- OECD countries, with China and India accounting for half.

State and USAID are committed to working with our global partners to establish commercially viable energy sectors that can attract investment to expand access to energy, increase the use of clean energy and energy-efficient technologies, and ensure responsible, transparent, and effective stewardship of energy resources. Global access to reliable, affordable energy is vital to our economic, environment, foreign policy, and development priorities. The Department of State and USAID join together our diplomatic and programmatic efforts to build sustainable, transparent, and predictable international energy markets that advance U.S. national interests, our environmental goals, and a strong global economy.

Our prosperity and that of our international allies and partners depend on global markets for traded energy commodities such as oil and natural gas. While we must protect our energy security today, we must also foster international cooperation toward a global clean energy and energy-efficient future.

Engaging developing nations, which will be the largest contributors to growth in global energy demand in coming decades, is essential to successful energy and climate diplomacy. Expanding access to modern, affordable sustainable energy can be a win-win solution for the climate, the global economy, and development. It can curb greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, spur economic growth, and lower energy costs, while attracting private investment to emerging economies to improve national and regional power networks. Strengthening energy sector governance, transparency, and accountability supports economic growth, improves democratic prospects, reduces the potential for resource-fueled conflict, and helps U.S. businesses compete and operate in resource-rich states.

An estimated $17 trillion is needed through 2035 to meet global electricity demand, according to the IEA. Renewables are expected to account for two-thirds of new investment in generation capacity. Transformative technologies and the integration of renewable energy will not only diversify global energy supplies and be critical to meeting the world’s growing demand for electricity, but also offer U.S. manufacturers expansive commercial opportunities. Investment opportunities in global power markets are enormous. We are working to ensure that American companies are well-positioned for these new markets, especially in the fast growing emerging economies. We will continue to work for stable and transparent policy and regulatory frameworks to enable investments in national and regional markets. These markets offer economies of scale for U.S. exports in energy efficient, alternative, and renewable energy technologies.

The main external factor that could affect our work is whether the private sector can make the needed investments in energy infrastructure. This depends to a large extent on governments putting in place a sound energy sector regulatory framework and investment climate, but it also depends on market conditions and the capital that companies can commit. On the diplomatic side, if countries decide not to engage with international energy organizations, it could complicate efforts to strengthen those organizations.

Strategies for Achieving the Objective

To promote energy security, access to clean energy, and mitigate climate change by accelerating the transition to a cleaner global economy, State and USAID will support increased energy efficiency, better energy sector governance, improved energy access, stronger national and regional energy markets, and more public and private financing.

To make energy systems more efficient, commercially viable, and cleaner, State and USAID will support programs that enhance utility performance, reduce technical and commercial losses, and improve air quality. State and USAID will also support energy sector restructuring, increasing the global rate of energy efficiency, and expanding the contribution of renewable energy. This will require improved energy sector planning, including institutional capacity building, technical assistance and integrated resource planning. It will also require expanded collaborations and public-private partnerships with other countries in science, technology, and innovation in clean energy. This work further includes policy and regulatory enhancement and reform efforts to strengthen the investment climate for clean energy projects. State and USAID will also be responsive to changes in natural gas markets in order to increase global availability of this bridge fuel.

Gaining access to energy can transform lives, State and USAID will seek to increase access to reliable, affordable energy services for underserved rural and urban populations across the world. This will require accelerating development and scaling-up appropriate business and financing models for energy access. It also means supporting cross-sectoral development priorities, such as health, agriculture, and education.

State and USAID will also promote improved energy sector governance on the national level and internationally through the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Strengthening national and regional energy markets is another key step toward reaching this objective. State and USAID will contribute by advancing Presidential initiatives in Asia, the Americas, and Africa to deploy clean energy and expand cross-border trade in electricity. One initiative is Power Africa, which aims to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa, initially focusing on six countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania. We will also encourage international financial institutions and private sector companies to invest in power sector investments in sub-Saharan Africa. This requires mobilization of public and private sector finance. State and USAID will push for transparent and streamlined processes for due diligence, tendering, and procurement to accelerate power projects to reach financial close. State and USAID will also work for enhanced access to credit and risk mitigation.

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