In August, ICLEI South America and Government of the State of Pernambuco They held the Third Multilevel Dialogue between Governments. In the context of the Climate Footprint Project, which has the State of Pernambuco as its territory in Brazil, the online event was the last in a series of meetings that sought to address the climate agenda in its cross-cutting nature, focusing on the role of subnational governments as relevant support in the implementation of Brazil's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), voluntary targets of the signatories of the Paris Agreement, which have been of fundamental importance in boosting each nation's efforts in adopting practices for a low-carbon economy.

According to Brazilian NDC, The country commits to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 37% by 2025, compared to 2005 levels; and to making efforts to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030, using the same baseline year.. 

“Climate governance is complex, does not respect borders, and demands the understanding and commitment of different levels of government. Good governance is built from a multi-level perspective. Without states and municipalities, countries will not achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement,” pointed out Rodrigo Perpétuo, executive secretary of ICLEI South America. 

The Third Multilevel Dialogue aimed to highlight the experience of the state of Pernambuco in preparing the GHG inventory and to integrate the discussions... Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the content of the national strategy for disaggregating data from the national GHG inventory; in addition to listing recommendations for the implementation of an integrated National MRV System based on the active participation of the guests. 

“The program was designed to allow for the sharing of experiences. Based on the participants' contributions, recommendations were co-created for the implementation of an integrated national MRV System, with regionalized data, and a focus on mitigating GHG emissions,” explained Camila Chabar, coordinator of the climate change area at ICLEI South America..

In line with international recommendations, it is becoming increasingly relevant to monitor the efforts of all levels of government in the country through a Measurement, Reporting and Verification System (MRV).) Integrated. This structure directly contributes to the effectiveness of monitoring the NDC and its local implementation within the framework of the Paris Agreement. In particular, it represents an opportunity to review targets and roadmaps more frequently, in order to make them more ambitious, as recommended by the treaty. 

“From a scientific point of view, climate change represents one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced. We hope that other dialogues like this will take place so that we can move forward on this issue,” declared Márcio Rojas., general coordinator of climate from MCTI, at the opening of the event.

“The success of the actions is related to the involvement of key actors in their design. We need instruments that account for emissions, indicating the necessary actions,” stated José Bertotti, Secretary of Environment and Sustainability of the State of Pernambuco.

Climate Footprint Project

O Climate Footprint Project is led by The Climate Group, as Secretariat of Under2 Coalition, in coordination with the following consortium partners: Ricardo Energy and Environment, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, Greenhouse Gas Management Institute e CDP – Carbon Disclosure Project.

The initiative supports state and regional governments in improving their efforts to monitor and reduce GHG emissions. State GHG inventories provide the level of detail needed to allow municipal policymakers to understand their emission sources and trends in order to improve the development of their emission reduction strategies. The project offers direct support and training to the states of Pernambuco (Brazil), Chhattisgarh and Telangana (India), Baja California, Jalisco and Yucatán (Mexico), and KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). 

The first edition of the Multilevel Dialogues took place in August 2019, during the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Change Week (LACCW), in Salvador (Bahia), in synergy with and with the support of the Urban-LEDS II project. The event's objectives included promoting meetings between key stakeholders on the topic of GHG inventories and conducting a preliminary survey of difficulties related to the creation of an integrated MRV system for GHG emissions in Brazil. 

Held in November 2019, during the Brazilian Climate Change Conference in Recife (PE), the second edition of the Multilevel Dialogues focused on the context of the State of Pernambuco and the city of Recife. A joint mapping was carried out of the institutions contacted by the state for access to information regarding GHG emissions, providing data when preparing their inventories. As a result of the meeting, it was possible to create a map of the communication flow between these two levels of government, the difficulties encountered, and recommendations to improve integration in the inventory preparation process.