SUPPORTING SPAR6C - SUCCESSFUL FIRST SCOPING MISSION IN ZAMBIA

In September 2022, a team of GFA consultants led a successful first SPAR6C scoping mission to Zambia. The SPAR6C program (Supporting Preparedness for Article 6 Cooperation) is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The mission was part of the readiness and needs assessment, which is one of the first activities to be carried out under SPAR6C. The team of GFA consultants visited Lusaka and, together with the Zambian Ministry of Green Growth and Environment, conducted three workshops and engaged in a series of bilateral meetings and discussions with local stakeholders. The aim of the workshops was two-fold. First, to inform national government public institutions, private sector actors, civil society organizations, and research and education institutions about the background, content, and planned activities of SPAR6C. Secondly, the workshops aimed to build a comprehensive overview of existing mandates, capacities, and interests of the individual stakeholders, which will serve as a basis for the detailed design of future activities. SPAR6C attracted a great deal of interest and incited lively and fruitful exchanges with the national stakeholders. An impressive number of participants attended the workshops. The quality of the participants' contributions and questions, and the resulting discussions made the events and the mission a great success.

SPAR6C is a five-year, €20,4 million project. The overall objective is to support four developing countries (Colombia, Pakistan, Thailand, and Zambia) in building their capacity to use Article 6 cooperative approaches under the Paris Agreement to achieve their NDCs— or increase their targets—and to engage the private sector in the implementation of climate change mitigation projects. This will enable cost-efficient, flexible, high-integrity carbon markets with positive sustainability impacts.
GFA Consulting Group is one of the four partners of the consortium that is carrying out the project under the leadership of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). The other partners are UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, Carbon Limits, and Kommunalkredit Public Consulting. GFA is responsible for the SPAR6C activities in Zambia.  The consortium partners coordinate to implement the program’s six work packages. The first four packages are in the individual partner countries, focusing on medium and long-term planning for low-emission development, institutional readiness, and the development of bankable Art.6 projects and programs. The other two packages are centrally managed and deal with developing tools for implementing cooperative mechanisms. Additionally, the centrally managed packages will establish a Community of Practice as an international forum to bring together countries and practitioners interested in raising targets through carbon markets.

 
Although the partner countries are at different stages in terms of institutional capacity, climate change mitigation, strategy development, and NDC progress tracking, all of the partner countries have expressed an interest in using cooperative approaches. However, they currently need more skills and know-how to actively engage in Article 6 activities.

 

#SPAR6C #ClimateChange #Zambia