Call for Grant Proposals: Integrated Assessment for Article 6

Deadline: 4-Sep-23

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is seeking proposals to support developing countries governments in the development and use of a toolbox through a South-South to learning-by-doing approach.

The project is implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme’s Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC), formerly the UNEP DTU Partnership. UNEP-CCC was established in early 2022 and is a leading international advisory institution on energy, climate and sustainable development. Its work focuses on assisting developing countries and emerging economies to transition towards more low-carbon development paths and supports the integration of climate resilience in national development.

UNEP-CCC is actively engaged in implementing UN Environment’s Climate Change Strategy and Energy Programme by delivering technical assistance and analytical work to emerging markets and developing countries in context of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.

Objectives

• The objective of the IAA6 project is to provide support to three developing countries in developing and applying a toolbox through a South-South approach to learning by doing for transformative design of Article 6 approaches. The toolbox is expected to help countries in analysing and planning for domestic mitigation strategies to align those strategies with the countries’ NDC, SDGs and the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, and has the potential of catalysing broader deployment regionally and globally.
• A secondary objective is to raise awareness of progress of south-south learning within EU and climate negotiation community to further increase support for this approach.

Scope

• UNOPS is seeking proposals from potential implementing partners with expert knowledge and experience relevant to capacity building for implementation of Article 6 carbon markets. The toolbox will build on Costa Rica’s open-source Climate Change Metric System (SINAMECC) and its Climate-Land-Energy-Water (CLEW) modelling platform, among other publicly available resources and draw on standardised data structures such as GHG inventories, REDD reference levels and international datasets including those by IEA and the WB to enable fast initial uptake.
• Development of the toolbox consists of two separate but interlinked activity packages (AP):
  • Modelling of decarbonisation pathways using multi-criteria analysis incl. assessment of mitigation costs and benefits for sustainable development, shifting from optimization approaches to robust assessment of scenarios for NDC and LT-LEDS policies and plans in context of uncertainties.
  • Development of a decision support framework for strategic use of Article 6 cooperative approaches building on the following technical modules:
    • Transparency and MRV of NDC mitigation policies and actions
    • Climate action ambition raising for transformational change
    • Sustainable development synergies and trade-offs aligned with national priorities
    • Communication of the toolbox technical modules

Funding Information

• Grant Amount available: $359,495
• Activity Package 1: $175,977
• Activity Package 2: $183,518

Duration

• 2 years and 7 month

Activities and Outputs

• Activity: Design a general model for assessment of decarbonization pathways incl. cost-benefit analysis of policy options to support national decision-making in developing countries.
  • Output: Generalized model for assessment of decarbonization pathways made available open source.
• Activity: Adapt and co-design the general model, jointly with UNEP CCC experts, for analysis of selected sectoral decarbonisation pathways in three partner countries.
  • Output: Country specific model components selected by country partners made publicly available, enabling baseline setting and securing overall positive sustainable development impacts to the host country.
• Activity: Design a toolbox of technical modules, co-developed with country partners and UNEP CCC experts, for use of Article 6 approaches to achieve national NDC and LT-LEDS targets aligned with the Paris Agreement long term goal.
  • Output: Conceptual outlines of the following technical modules:
    • Transparency and MRV of NDC mitigation policies and actions
    • Climate action ambition raising for transformational change
    • Sustainable development synergies and trade-offs aligned with national priorities
    • Communication of the toolbox technical modules
    • At least one technical module per partner country co-developed with national and UNEP CCC experts based on training workshops for South-South learning and sharing of experiences.
• Activity: Support countries to develop a decision-support framework that explains how each of the technical modules support the strategic use of carbon pricing options including Article 6 carbon markets.
  • Output: Final toolbox of technical modules and general model for robust decision-making presented through synthesis documents building on the main lessons learned from country applications.

Targeted Impact of the Grant/Funding

• The target impact of the grant funding is to support three partner countries and spur wider use of the approach for development and use of transformative Article 6 cooperative approaches enabling NDC ambition raising and LT-LEDS aligned with net-zero pathways towards the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement.

Target Beneficiaries

• The target beneficiaries are governments in developing countries.

Eligibility Criteria

• The following categories of applicants are eligible to apply under this Call for Proposals:
  • Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
  • Foundations
  • Civil society organizations (CSO)

For more information, visit United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)