Awareness-Raising About Climate Change (MK0138)

Achieving system changes by improving the collective knowledge on climate change
Start and end date of the commitment: August 2018 – August 2020
Lead implementing agency
Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning
Description of commitment
Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment
There is a need to provide easier access to information obtained as a result of the country's existing climate change expertise, especially in the academic community. By knowledge and data exchange, partners from the business, academia, public and non-profit sector must be connected in order to create a network that, through the development of innovative products, services and systems, will support solutions that can lead to system changes. In the past 18 years, the potential for mitigation of certain measures and policies by 2035 has been modeled through wide participatory and transparent process in view of the following sectors: energy, industrial processes, agriculture, forestry and waste. Although the analyzed results are presented in the national climate change documents, so far the data behind the analyzes were not open to the public. They cover a wide spectrum, from population and economic parameters, to economic and environmental aspects. Databases should be open and used for research and improve visualization of results in order to raise the ambition of citizens and politicians for climate action
Main objective
Ensuring conditions for greater climate change data transparency.
Brief description of the commitment
As a leading institution in climate change policy making, we believe that improving transparency and increasing visibility of the results will allow stipulation of a mix of public and private actions that will easen the greenhouse gas emissions reduction to 36% in 203016 .
OGP challenge addressed by the commitment
Inovative approach and tools for easier access to information, as well as information processing, in a manner that will be understandable to citizens.
Additional information
Refference to Goal 13: “Climate Action”, Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness and human and institutional capacity for climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reductuion and early warning.
Milestone
7.1.1 Provision of free access to the revised national greenhouse gas inventory (data series 1990-2019)
7.1.2 Opening and regular data update from climate change mitigation analyzes
7.1.3 Specific scenario development that will reflect the potential for mitigation of private sector activities
Contact information
Name of responsible person from implementing agency
Teodora Obradovikj Grncharovska
Title, Department
State Advisor
Phone and e-mail
t.grncarovska@moepp.gov.mk , dori.moeppgovmk@gmail.com
Other actors involved
Macedonian academy of sciences and arts Natasha Markovska natasa@manu.edu.mk

Theme VII: Climate Change

7.1. Achieving system changes by improving the collective knowledge on climate change

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan: [97]

“As a leading institution in climate change policy making, we believe that improving transparency and increasing visibility of the results 50 will allow stipulation of a mix of public and private actions that will easen the greenhouse gas emissions reduction to 36% in 2030.”

Milestones:

7.1.1 Provision of free access to the revised national greenhouse gas inventory (data series 1990-2019)

7.1.2 Opening and regular data update from climate change mitigation analyzes

7.1.3 Specific scenario development that will reflect the potential for mitigation of private sector activities

Start Date: August 2018

End Date: August 2020

Context and Objectives

Under the previous action plan (2016-2018), North Macedonia’s Ministry for Environment and Physical Planning (MEPP) carried out a variety of activities related to climate change and the implementation of the Paris Agreement. MEPP organized consultative workshops with stakeholders in preparation of the Second Bi-Annual Report on Climate Change under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts published new data on the national inventory on the sources of greenhouse gas emissions (http://www.klimatskipromeni.mk), in coordination with MEPP and UNDP. The guidelines for the emissions-monitoring software were completed and submitted to the government for adoption in July 2017. [98]

The commitment in the current action plan builds on these efforts to improve transparency of climate change data. The three milestones include measures to provide free access to the revised national greenhouse gas inventory, and open data on climate change mitigation analyses, and to develop specific scenarios to mitigate private sector activities in regard to climate change. The first and second milestones are verifiable, but the third milestone does not state who will be involved in the development of the scenario.

The commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it promises to provide access to the revised national greenhouse gas inventory and climate change mitigation analysis. This commitment mostly continues existing publication practices for data on greenhouse gas emissions. According to the government, this commitment is expected to lead to the disclosure of data on greenhouse gas emissions up to 2018 on http://www.klimatskipromeni.mk. Prior to the action plan, data was only available up to 2014. [99]

Next steps

The IRM reiterates recommendations from the Progress Report for the third action plan, including:

• Widening the consultation process among the relevant ministries and CSOs to adopt a national agenda vis-à-vis the Paris Agreement.
• Expanding mechanisms to ensure compliance with the Paris Agreement reporting by companies in North Macedonia.

[97] The texts for all the commitments are an abridged version of the commitment texts. For the full commitment texts, see the Republic of North Macedonia 2018-2020 National Action Plan, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Macedonia_Action-Plan_2018-2020_EN.pdf

[98] IRM, Republic of Macedonia End-of-Term Report 2016-2018, p 74-78, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Macedonia_End-of-Term_Report_2016-2018_EN.pdf

[99] Information provided to the IRM by MISA during the pre-publication review period of this report, 6 April 2020.

Commitment 7.1 Improving collective knowledge on climate change

Substantial:

The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning provides relevant data on national greenhouse gas emissions on the klimatskipromeni.mk platform for the period 1990-2014, and the Third Biannual Update Report on Climate Changes from December 2020 contains information for 2015 and 2016. [125] Data from 1990 has been provided in reports that were available prior to the action plan. [126] Although this commitment called for providing data for 1990-2019, data for 2017-2019 is not available yet.

Various scenarios are considered in the Third Biannual Update Report, including a scenario with the existing measures in place (greenhouse gas emissions decrease of 10 percent in 2040 compared to 2005), one with additional measures (taking into account a 45 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 compared to 2005), and a scenario with extended measures for reducing climate changes (more ambitious, including a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 of 55 percent compared to 2005). [127]