GIZ approaches on Low-Emission Development Strategies. Need for support from research

B. Zymla
DOI:  10.12910/EAI2015-021

First results of GIZ support on the development of Low-Emission Development Strategy (LED) in Costa Rica are promising and have motivated key ministries to integrate the climate policy into their structures. Awareness of the issue of climate change among the general public is increasing, the competencies of the National Secretariat for Climate Protection have been strengthened: its capability for strategic planning has been improved.

Together with other country project of GIZ a set of instruments and capacity development measures has been developed and tested. In some cases the contributions are limited to some components, e.g. baseline GHG emissions analysis and projections, prioritization of key mitigation sectors and measures for designing NAMAs and MRV frameworks. In other cases the support is more comprehensive, including integrated help with the development of Low-Emission Development Strategies.

GIZ has started to develop a toolbox to guide practitioners through the process of developing and implementing LEDS. The most important challenges still remain, like the manifold “LEDS” documents on national level, weak connection of existing development strategies, weak integration across ministries, the limited financial capacities or the fragmented international support over many programs, facilities, sectors and time frames.

Hence, there is still a wide field for research. Expectations of researchers focus on the support for the practical application or implementation. A lot of research has been done and documents are available. However, practitioners need simple tools, for different working levels.