Themes

GLOBE ACTIVITIES ON RISK GOVERNANCE

luthiers — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:45:55 +0000

GLOBE ACTIVITIES ON RISK GOVERNANCE luthiers Mon, 11/28/2022 - 19:45

Akiko Domoto, GLOBE co-founder and President of the Japanese Women’s Federation for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and GLOBE CEO Malini Mehra at UN World Conference on DRR in Sendai in 2015

For this reason, GLOBE International is developing a more focussed programme on Risk Governance from 2023 onwards. GLOBE International is working with UNDRR and other partners to promote understanding of risk governance, the Sendai Framework, and engagement in the mid-term review process
of the 2015 agreements, by parliamentarians.

Parliaments have an important role to play in creating legal frameworks that promote sectoral integration and greater efficacy, including through policy scrutiny and budgetary oversight of governments to ensure impact and value for money for the public purse.

A key objective is to connect, integrate and build greater synergy, coherence and efficacy amongst different communities such as the climate, DRR, hydromet, development and humanitarian communities, who are working on parallel and complementary agendas, but too often in silos and lacking in mutual understanding or committed to collective action.

An important area of focus for GLOBE’s work with parliamentarians in 2023 – strengthened by the outcomes of COP27 – will be on the climate resilience and loss and damage agenda for all nations.

WHY RISK GOVERNACE MATTERS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Over the past twenty years, direct economic losses from disasters have increased globally by more than 150 per cent, with losses disproportionately borne by vulnerable developing countries. Risk is a development issue and risk-informed development is essential for sustainable and climate-resilient development.

DRR Champion Hon. Saber Chowdhury (Bangladesh) and former UNISDRR Head Margareta Wahllstrom at Sendai

GLOBE parliamentarians have long been active on the international disaster risk reduction (DRR) stage. From GLOBE International co-founder, Akiko Domoto, President of the Japan Women’s Network for Disaster Risk Reduction, to Saber Chowdhry MP, former President of GLOBE Bangladesh, and Senator Loren Legarda, former President of GLOBE Philippines, lawmakers have actively engaged within the UN DRR system, regional bodies and national parliaments to promote legislative responses to the challenges of disaster risk reduction.

Since 2015, with the adoption of the UN’s Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), GLOBE’s work on DRR has developed further and engagement with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR (formerly known as UNISDR) has deepened.

WHAT IS THE SENDAI FRAMEWORK?

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 was the first of the landmark global agreements reached in 2015. Collectively known as the 2030 Agenda agreements, they include the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the New Urban Agenda, and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). GLOBE’s Coherence & Convergence programme, adopted in 2015, promotes an integrated approach to these agreements and Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by parliaments, with a view to improving global governance for sustainable development.

In particular, at an international policy level, the UN system has worked to promote synergies between the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. For example, the monitoring of the Sendai Framework is intended to complement the monitoring of 11 SDG indicators.

THE SENDAI FRAMEWORK CALLS FOR:

"The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries."

The four priorities of the Sendai Framework are as follows:

Priority 1. Understanding disaster riskDisaster risk management should be based on an understanding of disaster risk in all its dimensions of vulnerability, capacity, exposure of persons and assets, hazard characteristics and the environment. Such knowledge can be used for risk assessment, prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response.

Priority 2. Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk

Disaster risk governance at the national, regional and global levels is very important for prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and rehabilitation. It fosters collaboration and partnership.

Priority 3. Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience

Public and private investment in disaster risk prevention and reduction through structural and non-structural measures are essential to enhance the economic, social, health and cultural resilience of persons, communities, countries and their assets, as well as the environment.

Priority 4. Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstructionRisk is increasingly systemic. If we want to reduce risk then we also must be increasingly joined up in our approaches: working cross-sectors, between and within institutions, and ensuring harmony from policy through to activity.

ROLE OF PARLIAMENTARIANS IN IMPLEMENTING THE SENDAI FRAMEWORK

Adopted by all UN Member States, the Sendai Framework recognizes that the State has the primary responsibility to reduce disaster risk but that this duty should be shared with local government, the private sector, and other stakeholders.

DRR Champion Senator Loren Legarda (Philippines) and GLOBE CEO Malini Mehra at UN World Conference on DRR in Sendai in 2015

Importantly, the Sendai Framework emphasizes an all-of-society approach and explicitly calls on parliamentarians to reduce disaster risks and protect their populations by developing new or enhancing existing legislation, setting appropriate budgets for disaster risk reduction, promoting public scrutiny on DRR and holding governments accountable for DRR actions.

The UNDRR recognises that parliamentarians can also shift their governments’ focus and strategy from disaster response and recovery to disaster risk reduction that extends vertically - from national to the local level, and horizontally - across sectors, departments, and disciplines.
In recent years, GLOBE has deepened its relationship with UNDRR and used numerous opportunities to promote parliamentary awareness of the Sendai Framework, global existential risk, climate security, climate resilience and systemic risk.

Since 2016, Malini Mehra, CEO of the GLOBE International secretariat, has been privileged to serve on the Advisory Body of the Global Assessment of Risk (GAR), the UN’s flagship report, which provides guidance to decision makers on addressing systemic risk. In April 2022, GLOBE’s Ms Mehra, facilitated the virtual launch of the GAR22 Our World at Risk, at UN Headquarters with Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed and Mami Mizutori, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on DRR, and in May 2022 moderated the opening high-level panel of the Global Platform on DRR in Bali, Indonesia.

LESSONS OF GAR2022 FOR LEGISLATORS

The 2022 Global Assessment Report on DRR (GAR2022) warns that despite commitments to tackle climate change, build resilience and create sustainable development pathways, current societal, political and economic choices are doing the reverse. Risk creation is outstripping risk reduction. Disasters, economic loss and the underlying
vulnerabilities that drive risk, such as poverty and inequality, are increasing just as ecosystems and biospheres are at risk of collapse. Global systems are becoming more
connected and therefore more vulnerable in an uncertain risk landscape. COVID-19 spread quickly and relentlessly into every corner of the world, and global risks like climate change are having major impacts in every locality. Indirect, cascading impacts can be significant.

To change course, new approaches are needed. This will require transformations in what governance systems value and how systemic risk is understood and addressed. Doing more of the same will not be enough. Without increased action to build resilience to systemic risk, the SDGs cannot be achieved.
Investment in understanding risk is the foundation for sustainable development. However, this needs to link to a reworking of financial and governance systems to account for the real costs of current inaction to address risks like climate change. Without this, financial balance sheets and governance decision-making will remain fragmented and be rendered increasingly inaccurate and ineffective.

2023 – A MAJOR INFLECTION YEAR FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically underscored the consequences of failing to anticipate, understand and better manage risk. Parliaments along with other organs of governance need to play a much more proactive and effective role in better managing systemic risks. For this reason, GLOBE International is developing a more focussed programme on Risk Governance from 2023 onwards.

2023 is a major inflection year for the international community and GLOBE’s work to promote a Coherence & Convergence on the 2015 Agenda, as it marks the midpoint in the implementation of key sustainable development frameworks agreed in 2015. These include the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) amongst others. Failure to develop a risk governance approach will place the entire set of 2015 agreements and Agenda 2030 in jeopardy.
For this reason, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) decided to hold a “midterm review of the implementation of the Sendai Framework 2015-2030” (MTR SF) that would take stock of implementation over the last seven years, allowing the re-examination and redress of our relationship with risk.

THE MID-TERM REVIEW OF THE SENDAI FRAMEWORK (2023)
The Mid-Term Review of the Sendai Framework (MTR SF) will assess progress made, examine challenges experienced in preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk, and explore context shifts and new and emerging issues.
The MTR SF seeks to identify improvements to risk governance, and risk management approaches and mechanisms that are able to contend with 21st century challenges, amplifying and accelerating action in all sectors and at all scales through to 2030 and beyond.
The MTR SF process will conclude at a high-level meeting of the General Assembly in New York from 18-19 May 2023 by adopting a concise and action-oriented political declaration.
The review and political declaration will also inform the SDGs Summit in 2023, the UN Secretary General’s Summit for the Future, the Paris Agreement Stocktake and UNFCCC COP28, and the High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development.

GLOBE’S MTR SF ACTIVITIES FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS

A key objective of GLOBE International’s work with parliamentarians is to connect, integrate and build greater synergy, coherence and efficacy amongst different communities such as the climate, DRR, hydromet, development and humanitarian communities, who are working on parallel and complementary agendas, but too often in silos and lacking in mutual understanding or committed to collective action.
GLOBE is working with UNDRR and partners to support the MTR SF process by informing and engaging parliamentarians at the international, regional, national and sub-national levels.
Including in partnership with ICLEI to promote improved multi-level governance and understanding.

Roundtable discussion with Parliamentarians on the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework

On 4 th October 2022, GLOBE partnered with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Climate Vulnerable Forum Global Parliamentary Group to organise a virtual Roundtable discussion with parliamentarians on the MTR SF.
Attended by parliamentarians from around the world, the virtual Roundtable sought to ensure that the views of Parliamentarians working on various aspects of the risk and
resilience agenda informed and were represented in the MTR SF process.

The discussion focussed on:

Understanding parliamentarians’ views on the stock take of Sendai Framework implementation over the past seven years in their countries including, successes, challenges, and opportunities; and
Forward looking strategic direction for the prospective implementation of the Sendai Framework focusing on renovating or strengthening risk governance and management to deal adequately with systemic risks in the 21st century.

The key outcomes of the virtual Roundtable discussion with parliamentarians were:

1. Parliamentarians identified instances where -
a. legislation was enacted to implement the Sendai Framework and established accountable institutions to understand risk and establish funds for disaster risk reduction; and
b. risk governance was applied and climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction measures converged to mitigate risk.
2. Parliamentarians called for -
a. a need to develop a road map for the financial sectors on how to respond to risk;
b. capacity building for decision makers on disaster risk reduction;
c. the need to realign parliamentary committee for purposes of risk reduction or to establish risk caucuses to address risk reduction;
d. tightening of weak legislation to make corporations accountable for failure to invest in renewable energy over fossil fuels and for corporations that under report when it comes to sustainable financial reports;
e. timely data to make informed decisions.

3. Spatial planning is critical for mapping occupational safety and health hazards as it can further curb challenges such as food security.

4. Parliamentarians proposed that the IPCC Report should include disaster risk reduction to bridge the data and budget gap.

5. Governments should move away from measuring economies through Gross Domestic Product market value to accounting for natural capital.

The Agenda for the virtual Roundtable can be downloaded here.
The full report for the virtual Roundtable can be downloaded here.

GLOBE ACTIVITES AT COP27 – BRINGING DRR AND CLIMATE RISK/ RESILIENCE TOGETHER

COP27 provided an important opportunity to bring together the climate and DRR agendas much more effectively together. The central message echoed by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) at COP27 was the need to create a world with “Zero Climate Disasters.” At the heart of this approach is the need to reduce emissions to prevent the creation of new climate risks, and the need to accelerate climate change adaptation to manage current and future risks. GLOBE sought to fully endorse this message in its work with Parliamentarians as the UNFCCC Focal Point for the Parliamentary Group throughout the two weeks of COP27.

GLOBE International and UNDRR also collaborated in holding a special session on DRR, climate risk and resilience, and the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework at the hybrid GLOBE COP27 Legislators Summit on 9 th November 2022.

The contributions to Summit’s SESSION 4 on “We’re creating risk faster than we are reducing it” How the Sendai Framework can help risk-informed legislation, can be viewed below. The presentation of Jenty Kirsch-Wood is available here and that of Dr. Roger S. Pulwarty is available here.

Themes

Defending democracy

luthiers — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 22:27:18 +0000

Defending democracy luthiers Tue, 10/20/2020 - 01:27

National parliaments are at the heart of democracies.The phrase 'parliament is sovereign' reminds us of this fact. Yet the reality can be tenuous at a time of increasing executive power and rising authoritarianism in many nations. Weakened parliaments are less able to perform their constitutional functions of law-making, oversight and budget allocation in the public interest.

At a time when democratic institutions such as independent parliaments and judiciary are coming under attack and social media trolling on the rise, the practice of politics is changing. Particularly for female politicians. Industrial quantities of fake news and disinformation have degraded political discourse. Dark money, digital manipulation and microtargeting have changed elections and political campaigning beyond recognition.

This presents a very real challenge for the practice of politics and the integrity of elections and democracy itself.

GLOBE legislators are on the frontlines of these changes in the political landscape. Defending democracy and protecting the integrity of independent parliaments are a sine qua non for championing action on climate change and sustainable development. These issues are indivisible.

For this reason, GLOBE is supporting legislators in their efforts to defend democracy through research, networking and capacity build.

Please contact us if you wish to learn more or contribute.

Themes

Climate change laws & litigation

luthiers — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 22:25:20 +0000

Climate change laws & litigation luthiers Tue, 10/20/2020 - 01:25

Page under development

Themes

Governance for sustainable development

luthiers — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 22:24:11 +0000

Governance for sustainable development luthiers Tue, 10/20/2020 - 01:24

Since its emergence as a term in the landmark report, Our Common Future, by the World Commission on Environment and Development ('Brundtland Commission' 1987), and the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by all 193 of the world's governments in 2015, sustainable development has become the paradigmatic framework for human endeavour.

What does this mean for governance? How well has the concept travelled from universal acclamation to practical implementation by legislatures?

If sustainable development is a process as much as an outcome, are present institutions fit for purpose to 'deliver' it? Are particular constitutional frameworks more conducive to delivering on sustainable development than others? What difference do different political arrangements such as devolution, centralisation or supra-national cooperation make?

Are smaller political units such as unitary city polities more effective? How can well-known governance challenges such as siloisation and poor policy coherence / coordination be addressed? What lessons can be drawn from good / better practice?

GLOBE is embarking on a programme of action research exploring these questions with parliamentary practitioners, senior academics and other experts.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss partnership.

Themes

The Natural Capital Approach

luthiers — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 21:49:58 +0000

The Natural Capital Approach luthiers Tue, 10/13/2020 - 00:49

Ecosystems are deteriorating worldwide, and with them, the capacity to support human wellbeing and sustainable economic growth. The deterioration has many causes, but a major contributing factor, as identified in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, is the failure to integrate the true value of ecosystem services and natural capital into policy making processes.

Natural capital refers to those aspects of the natural environment that deliver socio-economic value through ecosystem services. For example, wetlands provide water treatment and purification services; prevent floods by retaining surface runoff; and provide wildlife habitat. Natural capital exists alongside, and often underpins, man-made capital. By including the value of the environment into wealth estimates and macroeconomic indicators, such as GDP, governments can ensure that their development strategies deliver sustainable and inclusive growth.

However, natural capital is not accurately recorded in national income accounts. By not including the value of ecosystem services in the cost benefit analysis of policy options, decision-makers are often choosing solutions that are detrimental to a country’s stock of natural capital.

All governments calculate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure their country's economy. However, GDP is incomplete for two reasons. Firstly, it only measures gross output and provides no indication of whether income and growth are sustainable. Secondly, the true value of natural capital and the important economic contributions of ecosystems are not fully captured. As a result, the unsustainable use of natural resources can result in an increase in a country's GDP while it actually becomes poorer.

The forestry sector demonstrates this very clearly: the income from harvesting timber is measured and recorded, whereas the simultaneous depletion of important ecosystem services, including air filtration, carbon sequestration and erosion control, are not.

It is in the interest of both developed and developing countries to move beyond GDP and start to make enlightened economic decisions which reconcile economic and environmental interests by incorporating natural capital into their national accounts and by integrating the value of natural capital into government decision-making. For this to happen three things are required:

Scientific information regarding the status and trends of natural capital;
Economic valuation methodologies that assign an accurate value to natural capital;
Political leadership to ensure the integration of this value into policy making processes.

Developing 'Natural Capital Accounts' is a critical step towards reshaping existing policy and national accounting frameworks to accurately reflect the relationship between the economy and the environment. With the adoption of the Central Framework of the System for Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) in March 2012, there is now an internationally agreed framework to account for these interactions and to measure material natural resources like minerals, timber and fisheries. Work on further parts of the SEEA, namely the ecosystem accounts, is ongoing.

The focus of the GLOBE Natural Capital Action Plan is on the third part of this process. The first two parts are not yet complete, or perfect, but sufficient information exists and suitable tools have been developed to make preliminary assessments of the real value of natural capital. These tools are continuously being improved for application at a greater scale, and so do not present a block to integrating natural capital into policy. The real missing part of the puzzle is the political leadership at the highest levels to recalibrate the measurement of sustainable economic growth and integrate these values into policy decisions at the local and national level to reverse the current trend of ecosystem degradation.

Legislators can play a central role in making the transition to an economy which recognises and takes into account the role of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The GLOBE Natural Capital Action Plan document outlines a practical action plan that legislators can follow to accelerate the recognition of natural capital by governments and to ensure that the true value of ecosystem services are integrated in policymaking procedures across all government departments.

GLOBE NATURAL CAPITAL ACTION PLAN

GLOBE originally developed its work on Natural Capital at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 10th Conference of Parties (COP10) in Nagoya with the support of the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Programme. The GLOBE Natural Capital Action Plan, prepared by the GLOBE International Commission on Land Use Change and Ecosystems, was endorsed at the Nagoya Parliamentarians Forum on 26th October 2010.

The 1st World Summit of Legislators at Rio+20 included two plenary sessions on Natural Capital and adopted the GLOBE Natural Capital Action Plan. The Plan recommends a series of measures including the development of Natural Capital legislation.

To download the GLOBE Natural Capital Action Plan as a PDF file click here.

GLOBE NATURAL CAPITAL INITIATIVE

The GLOBE Natural Capital Initiative was formally launched following the 1st World Summit of Legislators at Rio+20. Since then GLOBE has launched work with a leadership group of countries to advance appropriate national level responses. It focuses on:

Creating an international leadership group of countries supported at both a governmental and parliamentary level;
Improving the political understanding within governments and parliaments about why valuing ecosystem services and natural capital is important and yields economic benefits;
Testing out and further refining the more developed accounting and valuation methodologies in order to provide case studies of their effectiveness;
Increasing the communication between policy makers and technical experts (both scientific and economic) to ease the transition to a new economic policy making that includes the comprehensive valuation of ecosystem services and natural capital;
Developing competencies within parliaments to prepare terms of reference for national auditing and accounting bodies (many of which are answerable to parliaments rather than governments) and ultimately legislation.

Themes

Biodiversity

luthiers — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 09:06:23 +0000

Biodiversity luthiers Sun, 10/11/2020 - 12:06

The implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) relies entirely on domestic action through policies and, ultimately, national legislation. Ultimately, only legislators have the capacity to edict solid rules and give clear directions for the kind of social and economic changes that the conservation of our biodiversity requires.

The success of that legislation will depend not only on the merit of each individual bill, but also on whether, taken as a whole, they offer a clear and coherent framework for action, free of contradictions.

This is the vision that led GLOBE International to launch the project 'Integrated Multi-purpose Forest Governance for the National Delivery of Sustainable Development, Biodiversity Objectives' in Mexico and Colombia in partnership with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBDS) and with the generous support of the Japan Biodiversity Fund (JBF). This project aimed at assessing how national forest governance frameworks are responding to the challenge of concurrent policy targets regarding forests.

Forests, because of the quantities of carbon they absorb and stock, the number of species they host and the variety of services they provide to local populations and the national economy, are a key ecosystem at the juncture of these overlapping policy objectives for development, climate and the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

The outputs of the project were presented at the CBD COP13 Legislators Forum in Cancun, Mexico, in December 2016, and in two national parliamentary fora in Mexico City and Bogota respectively, to raise awareness amongst Mexican and Colombian members of Congress on the importance of these issues and help them navigate their complex interconnections.

Context

This project was based on three COP decisions: X/36 (para. 5) which requests the Executive Secretary (ES) to further build capacity on how forest biodiversity could be better addressed in national biodiversity and forest policies such as NBSAPs and national forest programmes, and in sustainable forest management practices; X/33 (para. 8) which requests the ES to convene an expert workshop to enhance coordination of capacity-building efforts on biodiversity and the conservation of forest; and XI/3 (para. 12(f) which requests the ES to promote collaboration on biodiversity with forestry and other relevant sectors at the national level.

Once just managed for the extraction of a limited number of commodities, forest ecosystems are now recognized for a broader range of functions and services that underpin economic development and human well-being. As a result, forests have come under the attention of many international agendas and associated national commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+).

In order to manage the complexity arising from the concurrent, interconnected and sometimes conflicting objectives of biodiversity conservation, climate mitigation and adaptation and sustainable development, several countries are in the process of reviewing their forest governance frameworks.

As countries analyze options and opportunities to reform existing frameworks, a risk may arise that competing stakeholder views and key issues are overlooked or not reconciled. The necessity to integrate new dimensions in the management of forests, such as result-based carbon payments or other ecosystem services, as well as clarify land rights and tenure, may lead to the development of new institutions that challenge control exerted by previously established ones and lead to a fragmentation and lack of coherence in the governance of forests. In many countries, the policy and legal frameworks need reform, including by eliminating inconsistencies and contradictions and by harmonizing forest-related laws with those in other sectors.

On the other hand, some of the reforms needed for the pursuit of a given forest-related objective (e.g. climate mitigation through implementation of REDD+) may work in synergy with other objectives, such as biodiversity conservation, depending on how they are implemented.

Countries can adopt a variety of approaches to foster the process of integration, including through the establishment of inter-ministerial taskforces; joint programming, planning and funding; integrated land use planning; sustainable use of biodiversity; standards/safeguards or certification schemes and shared information and monitoring systems. Such improvements that allow for enhanced cooperation and coherence in forest governance are highly specific to the national context. As such, they require an acute understanding of the institutional set up and legislative landscape, in order to identify opportunities for targeted reforms.

Objectives

One way of fostering coherence and effectiveness in forest governance is to build the knowledge base and capacity of stakeholders and decision-makers on the interconnectedness of these different agendas, the importance of consolidating actions under each of them and ensuring that they are implemented and/or enforced. Accordingly, the objectives of the project were, within the two target countries:

To assess how national forest and climate governance frameworks are evolving in Colombia and Mexico and integrating the countries’ national biodiversity priorities, in a manner that supports Sustainable Development Goals;
To inform future decision-making on forest and climate governance through a participatory and consultative stakeholder process, seeing that compliance with forest laws can best be achieved as an outcome of forest governance reform processes that enjoy the support of all stakeholders;
To report on innovative approaches for balancing and incentivizing a broad range of forest services in forest governance frameworks, taking into account the concurrent demands on forests arising from the climate, biodiversity and sustainable development agendas;
To foster the exchange of experiences between countries on potential reforms and mechanisms that allow for enhanced cooperation, coordination and integration between the work of relevant governmental and non-governmental actors in the pursuit of multiple forest-based policy objectives.

Themes

Electro-Mobility

luthiers — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 15:23:29 +0000

Electro-Mobility luthiers Sat, 10/10/2020 - 18:23

The shift from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEs) to electric vehicles (EVs) is happening. Coalitions of leading national Governments from countries across the income range and the automotive sector have committed to ambitious mid-term targets for EVs production and use, infrastructure roll-out and gradual banning of diesel and ICE vehicles.

However, the ultimate success of these plans and the possibility for the shift to take place quickly at a global, systemic scale and help bring forward the peak oil demand date needed to align fossil fuel demand safely with the 2°C climate target will depend on action in Parliaments around the world. The GLOBE Electro-Mobility Initiative (EMI) will work with cross-party groups of progressive legislators around the world backed by a central Secretariat so as to deliver accelerated progress in the adoption and implementation of the varied legislative measures required to provide a robust underpinning to the shift to electro-mobility.

The Electro-Mobility Initiative (EMI) will build parliamentary capacity across the GLOBE network to deliver ambitious legislative action in support of an accelerated transition to electric vehicles through in-country support and international coordination.

The crucial role of Parliaments in keeping the shift to electro-mobility on track

The policies required to create a market for EVs, roll-out charging infrastructure and capitalise on the local economic development opportunities of electro-mobility require robust cross-party political ownership. At this point, it is evident that political interest in electro-mobility is very uneven at international level. Within the European Union alone, the level of ambition of Member States with broadly comparable circumstances, including current political forces in government, varies greatly, to the extent that observers differentiate three tiers of EU countries, where the laggards may complete the shift up to twenty years later than the frontrunners.

Parliaments will play a crucial role in determining the ambition, pace and political commitment of each nation’s shift to electro-mobility. In approving budgets, passing legislation on emissions, fiscal incentives, infrastructure investments, or creating a national framework for front-running city, in questioning and scrutinising government and educating public opinion, widely seen as a major roadblock, Members of Parliament could not be more important in escalating and accelerating the shift. At the same time, Parliaments will also be crucial in ensuring that the decarbonisation of the energy mix continues apace, to ensure that EVs do not rely on carbon-intensive power.

The international leadership platforms which emerged in 2017, such as the EV30@30 campaign, launched in Beijing in June, at the 8th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), which is coordinated by the International Energy Agency, or the Transport Decarbonisation Alliance (TDA) in November at the One Planet Summit, have brought together national governments, automotive industries, sub-national actors and public transport operators. These platforms aim to serve as acceleration hubs for the EVs shift through a variety of actions, including research and information exchange, and to “support governments in need of policy and technical assistance through training and capacity building”.

However, these platforms by themselves will not address the pre-existing and demonstrable lack of awareness and capacity of national legislators across the world to advance adequate responses to the urgent and complex challenges of creating enabling legal frameworks for the electro-mobility shift with a robust cross-party backing.

The cases of parliamentary leadership on electro-mobility are so far very rare. One remarkable exception is Costa Rica’s new incentives for EVs, which sets a helpful precedent for emerging markets, and was sponsored by Legislative Assembly Member Marcela Guerrero. In the words of Mónica Araya, founder of the Costa Rican Electric Mobility Association, “(…) One of the largest barriers to winning over the consumer is cultural. Most people are vulnerable to myths about these new technologies or are resistant to change. Giving the experience to consumers has played a critical role in educating them (and even in educating decision-makers) to make them aware of how far these technologies have gone and how charging works and why it is easier than they imagine. I work full-time on electric mobility and can attest to the positive impact that electric-transport education for consumers, decision-makers and even car dealerships had on getting the law passed in Costa Rica.”

In addition, legislators interested in advancing electro-mobility face the challenge of making long-term decisions in an ever-changing knowledge environment. Ensuring that the fundamentals of factors such as demand and technology costs are up to date in the models being used by decision-makers to assess policy options is essential for them to accurately identify the most efficient solutions for the future and avoid public policy to end up locking in investments on the basis of obsolete technological assumptions.

The 2017 report ‘Expect the Unexpected: The Disruptive Power of Low-Carbon technology’ by the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and Carbon Tracker alerted of this danger after reviewing the peak oil demand and transport scenarios of major oil and gas producers, and stressed that “by definition, BAU scenarios involve no additional climate policy mitigation action beyond the present level, or acceleration in the extent to which low-carbon technologies impact energy markets. Given the energy transition is clearly already underway, and there is no way that BAU can meet the climate targets that many countries, states and companies have committed to, it is our contention that it is time to retire the conventional approach to use BAU as a starting point in scenario analyses. The current state of the low-carbon transition means it is highly risky to justify any business strategy by using a BAU scenario as a reference case. By changing the starting point, it shifts the focus on to how to achieve the Paris COP climate targets, i.e. a 2°C reference scenario, rather than the gap between BAU and what is already happening.”

As a consequence, the report stresses the importance of using the latest available data and market trends for technology costs and climate policy in energy modelling for policy-making. According to the authors, “Applying up-to-date solar PV and EV cost projections, along with climate policy effort in line with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), should now be the starting point for any scenario analysis. This is not a radical disruptive scenario in terms of its inputs, but a reflection of the current state of play.”

The uptake of this critical warning by key stakeholders such rating agencies is gradually picking up. In February 2018 Ficht published the report “Batteries Update: Oil Demand Could Peak by 2030” stating “(…) Developments over the last year suggest that annual sales of 10 million battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs) by 2025 are entirely achievable, based on manufacturers’ targets, public policy announcements and continued improvements in technology. This puts adoption above the “extreme thought experiment” we presented in our inaugural batteries report 15 months ago, a case which if followed could see oil demand peak in 2029. (…) To be clear this is not our base case – but it has moved from being highly unlikely in our estimation to being one of a number of plausible outcomes.”

National governments are likely to trail behind industry, finance, academia and science in the integration of the approach to electro-mobility planning recommended by the report ‘Expect the Unexpected: The Disruptive Power of Low-Carbon technology’. For this reason, strengthening the capacity of national and sub-national parliamentary champions to exert effectively their powers of law-making, oversight and budgeting towards the delivery of ever more ambitious national and sub-national electro-mobility plans based on the latest available data will be critical to ensure that the transition to electro-mobility is as fast and systemic as possible.

GLOBE Legistators as drivers of the electro-mobility shift – The case of Argentina

Legislators across the GLOBE network have voiced an interest in benefitting from structured support to explore how to advance electro-mobility legislative packages, following the lead of GLOBE Argentina.

Since Q-3 2017 GLOBE Argentina’s leadership has been implementing a process for the passing of a comprehensive Electro-mobility Bill, in dialogue with the GLOBE International Secretariat and UNEP. The process started with a comprehensive mapping and engagement with public and private stakeholders. GLOBE Argentina also hosted the parliamentary launch of the UNEP report “Movilidad eléctrica – oportunidades para Latinoamérica”, in order to place the issue in the parliamentary agenda and start building cross-party parliamentary consensus around it.

GLOBE Argentina is keen to raise the profile of the initiative further and enrich the national debate with peer legislative experience by engaging with legislators with a successful experience in passing landmark electro-mobility legislation, and has requested support from the GLOBE International Secretariat to develop this component of their national effort with a view to Committee and plenary votes on a comprehensive bill, ideally by Q-4 2018.

Finally, on 30 November GLOBE Argentina will host a GLOBE G-20 Parliamentary Forum focused on electro-mobility legislation at the National Congress in the fringes of the G-20 Summit. The Forum will provide an opportunity for Argentine parliamentarians to share their recent legislative experience and galvanise action across the GLOBE network active in the parliaments of G-20 countries and beyond.

GLOBE chapters across the network are following this process with interest as a pilot exercise, and are keen to replicate it with the support of the GLOBE International Secretariat, so that it can help them keep abreast and draw inspiration from the progress showcased at international intergovernmental platforms such as the EV30@30 campaign and the Transport Decarbonisation Alliance.

Building on GLOBE’s decade-long efforts promoting ambitious legislative action on climate at national level across the world, and on its 2015 campaign promoting the parliamentary scrutiny of national INDCs, GLOBE will roll out an international Electro-Mobility Initiative (EMI) in response to the demands of national legislators in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon and India, in dialogue with legislators from Germany, France, Japan and the United Kingdom among others.

The aim of the programme is to provide independent policy support to national cross-party chapters of legislators keen to lead action towards the prompt adoption of EV legislation including EV penetration targets, fiscal incentives, infrastructure and city-targeted policies; the passing of legislation and budgetary instruments required for the delivery of national electro-mobility targets, the inclusion and ratcheting up of targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the scrutiny of the government’s progress on implementation. It will also provide a platform for the peer exchange of best legislative practices, and a resource for high-impact parliamentary diplomacy.

Over the coming year, GLOBE International will promote, resource, help design and coordinate action plans of national GLOBE chapters committed to scrutinising governments’ ongoing electro-mobility plans, push for an upward review of their ambition, and drive the legislative and policy reforms needed to deliver them, through parliamentary committee structures or as nationally appropriate. For this purpose, it will rely on knowledge partners such as Costa Rica Limpia, the organization which launched the platform www.movilidadelectrica.org, contributing to the adoption of the standard-setting Law 19744 on Incentives and Promotion of Electric Transport in Costa Rica in January 2018.

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THE SENDAI FRAMEWORK CALLS FOR:

"The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries."

ROLE OF PARLIAMENTARIANS IN IMPLEMENTING THE SENDAI FRAMEWORK

LESSONS OF GAR2022 FOR LEGISLATORS

2023 – A MAJOR INFLECTION YEAR FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

GLOBE’S MTR SF ACTIVITIES FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS

GLOBE ACTIVITES AT COP27 – BRINGING DRR AND CLIMATE RISK/ RESILIENCE TOGETHER

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GLOBE NATURAL CAPITAL ACTION PLAN

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Context

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Objectives

Electro-Mobility

The crucial role of Parliaments in keeping the shift to electro-mobility on track

GLOBE Legistators as drivers of the electro-mobility shift – The case of Argentina

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