Integration of climate change into country level work

Explanation

According to IsDB’s 2020-2025 Climate Action Plan, one key entry point of IsDB interventions in climate change activities in member country’s will be the nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It is widely understood that NDCs and other climate-related policy documents, such as national adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs/NAPs) and national appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs), are often higher-level strategies which lack concrete and actionable details on how to turn these plans and ambitions into actions and investments.

IsDB will support the improvement and operationalization of member countries’ NDCs and relevant strategies and plans, specifically focusing on ways to utilize its financing and technical assistance tools to transform these strategies and plans into investments and actions. Moreover, IsDB may also work with member countries to develop their resilient low carbon development pathways taking various key sectors into account. Many member countries also anchor their NDCs onto existing policies such as their long-term vision, national development plan(s), structural reforms (both sectoral and financial), environment strategy and other national agendas or initiatives. IsDB will assist member countries with climate mainstreaming through financing projects, and providing technical assistance and advisory activities to aid them in updating and improving their NDCs and translating them into policies/strategies and actions. IsDB’s support strategies are outlined below.

1. Sector analysis and diagnostics: IsDB will ensure climate opportunities and risks are considered in relevant sector analyses and diagnostics. Through targeted research and assessments, IsDB will support member countries to understand and identify: (i) the risks posed by climate change at the country and sectoral levels; (ii) the opportunities to invest in climate-smart resilience measures; and (iii) strategies or ways that member countries can meet their NDC commitments. For the same purpose, IsDB will partner with relevant national (through Reverse Linkage, see Metric 13 for more information), regional or international institutions to help member countries benefit from international best practices, programmes and initiatives related to green trade and dedicated climate funds. This includes leveraging existing partnerships of which IsDB is already part and has been actively involved in (including MDB Climate Finance Initiative, Mainstreaming Climate Action in IFIs initiative, NDC Partnership, Africa NDC hub, and Reverse Linkage).
2. Member Country Partnership Strategies (MCPS): IsDB MCPS are jointly developed with member countries and help guide IsDB work in that member country over the medium term (five years). IsDB is currently mainstreaming climate considerations into these strategies, based on the climate risks and opportunities that emerge from identifying and supporting global value chains in areas of revealed comparative advantage of member countries and diagnostic processes that identify sector binding constraints.
3. Country financing and advisory programming: IsDB will ramp up support to the integration of climate considerations into country financing and advisory programming that will help to identify financing and advisory opportunities that address climate change. This will include IsDB’s own contributions as a function of its climate finance targets, but also, whenever possible, supporting resource mobilization, parallel financing and programme coordination for climate opportunities with other development partners.

Recommendation: The Bank should support member countries in revision and implementation of NDC’s to assure they are in line with the 1.5°C scenario.