Aggregating the Impacts of Non-State and Subnational Climate Actions: An Exploration of Methods

Abstract

This paper discusses methodological assumptions to estimate the collective impact of mitigation commitments and targets of non-state and subnational entities. It serves as a supplement to the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) Non-State and Subnational Action Guide. The paper will facilitate users in employing methods that are suitable for their specific objectives when determining the collective impact of mitigation actions taken by cities, businesses and states. It will also promote greater transparency in reporting impact assessment results.

Strengthening transparency of non-state actors: How national experiences and new digital technologies can strengthen the Transparency efforts of non-state actors

“…Additionally, methodologies are evolving freely and may require numerous assumptions and considerations that might differ across actor groups. Lastly, data limitations, such as access and availability, may pose a significant challenge for users and influence whether specific actions can be included in the national impact assessment (Elliott et al 2022).…”

“…A guidance document that could be used as an example, or an entry point for developing such a template of guidance, could be the ICAT guidance documents that provide options and considerations for countries to measure and account for the impact of non-state actor actions in a "forward-looking" manner to inform future climate action and Nationally Determined Contribution planning (Lütkehermöller, Elliott and Singh 2020;Elliott et al 2022). At a minimum, the ICAT Non-state and Subnational Action Guide suggests identifying relevant city, region, and corporate actors and actions, determining their overlap with national policies, as a starting point to assess non-state actor contributions to and beyond countrylevel efforts.…”