The Government of Lao PDR acquires key skills and planning instruments for long-term climate action

This piece was contributed to the Partnership in Action report by the Global Green Growth Institute, showcasing Lao PDR’s ongoing efforts toward NDC implementation. 

Over the past few years, with funding support from the NDC Partnership, GGGI has supported the Government of Lao PDR to lay a critical foundation for climate action in the country. This work, which began in 2021, has enhanced the government’s ability to execute its climate pledges through improved skills and understanding and enhanced planning.

In 2021, the Government of Lao PDR submitted its enhanced nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The new NDC included an ambitious target of net zero emissions by 2050 as well as sectoral targets across both mitigation and adaptation. With the NDC completed and submitted, the Government of Lao PDR turned to focus on implementation.

This began in June 2021 with a grant from the Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP) to build government officials’ technical capacity on climate downscaling and greenhouse gas emission projection modelling. After conducting a needs assessment, GGGI designed and delivered a customized and highly technical hands-on training for a team of officials led by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Through the training, the Government of Lao PDR acquired modelling tools and the ability to conduct analyses and build future climate scenarios, supporting climate action and NDC implementation over the long-term.

Following this and recognizing that the targets in the enhanced NDC were ambitious, the Government of Lao PDR sought support to develop a more detailed and operational NDC implementation plan as well as assess the public works and transport sector for priority climate actions and the financial costs of decarbonization. This work was undertaken with the support of a second grant, this time provided through the NDC Partnership Action Fund (PAF), to GGGI in April 2022.

To design and build Lao PDR’s NDC implementation plan, GGGI and the Government of Lao PDR undertook a participatory and whole-of-government approach which engaged a wide range of ministries and private-sector and development partners. The project team assessed progress toward achieving each of the NDC’s mitigation and adaptation targets and assembled a suite of measures and underlying project priorities designed to boost achievement. The resultant NDC implementation plan was approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in 2023, and launched at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in late 2023.

Photo by GiangHai /Adobe Stock.