Assess current country plans, policies, practices, and capacities

From Open Energy Information

Stage 2

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2.1 Assess current country plans, policies, practices, and capacities

LEDS scoping map

Click on a country in the map below to get a list of climate change, clean energy, and land-use programs and policies that have been added to the LEDS gateway.

 Programs & Projects
Afghanistan: Energy Resources1
Albania: Energy Resources4
Algeria: Energy Resources6
Angola: Energy Resources1
Anguilla: Energy Resources1
Antigua and Barbuda: Energy Resources5
Argentina: Energy Resources5
Armenia: Energy Resources4
Aruba: Energy Resources3
Azerbaijan: Energy Resources1
Bahamas: Energy Resources6
Bahrain: Energy Resources1
Bangladesh: Energy Resources6
Barbados: Energy Resources6
Belize: Energy Resources6
Benin: Energy Resources1
Bolivia: Energy Resources3
Botswana: Energy Resources5
Brazil: Energy Resources12
Brunei: Energy Resources5
Bulgaria: Energy Resources2
Burundi: Energy Resources4
Cambodia: Energy Resources11
Cameroon: Energy Resources4
Canada: Energy Resources2
Cayman Islands: Energy Resources1
Central African Republic: Energy Resources2
Chad: Energy Resources3
Chile: Energy Resources14
China: Energy Resources20
Colombia: Energy Resources9
Costa Rica: Energy Resources10
Croatia: Energy Resources1
Cuba: Energy Resources4
Cyprus: Energy Resources2
Czech Republic: Energy Resources1
Democratic Republic of Congo: Energy Resources6
Denmark: Energy Resources1
Djibouti: Energy Resources2
Dominica: Energy Resources6
Dominican Republic: Energy Resources9
Ecuador: Energy Resources1
Egypt: Energy Resources6
El Salvador: Energy Resources2
Equatorial Guinea: Energy Resources3
Eritrea: Energy Resources2
Estonia: Energy Resources2
Ethiopia: Energy Resources10
Finland: Energy Resources1
France: Energy Resources1
Gabon: Energy Resources8
Georgia (country): Energy Resources3
Germany: Energy Resources2
Ghana: Energy Resources4
Greece: Energy Resources1
Grenada: Energy Resources6
Guadeloupe: Energy Resources2
Guatemala: Energy Resources2
Guyana: Energy Resources2
Haiti: Energy Resources9
Honduras: Energy Resources3
Hungary: Energy Resources4
Iceland: Energy Resources1
India: Energy Resources28
Indonesia: Energy Resources32
Iran: Energy Resources1
Iraq: Energy Resources1
Ireland: Energy Resources2
Israel: Energy Resources3
Jamaica: Energy Resources8
Japan: Energy Resources3
Jordan: Energy Resources6
Kazakhstan: Energy Resources6
Kenya: Energy Resources19
Kuwait: Energy Resources1
Kyrgyzstan: Energy Resources2
Laos: Energy Resources9
Latvia: Energy Resources2
Lebanon: Energy Resources2
Lesotho: Energy Resources1
Liberia: Energy Resources1
Libya: Energy Resources1
Lithuania: Energy Resources2
Luxembourg: Energy Resources1
Madagascar: Energy Resources3
Malawi: Energy Resources6
Malaysia: Energy Resources14
Maldives: Energy Resources3
Mali: Energy Resources1
Malta: Energy Resources1
Martinique: Energy Resources2
Mauritania: Energy Resources3
Mauritius: Energy Resources1
Mexico: Energy Resources19
Moldova: Energy Resources4
Mongolia: Energy Resources3
Montenegro: Energy Resources1
Montserrat: Energy Resources3
Morocco: Energy Resources7
Mozambique: Energy Resources5
Myanmar: Energy Resources7
Namibia: Energy Resources5
Nepal: Energy Resources3
Netherlands Antilles: Energy Resources1
Netherlands: Energy Resources3
New Zealand: Energy Resources1
Nicaragua: Energy Resources2
Nigeria: Energy Resources2
Norway: Energy Resources1
Oman: Energy Resources1
Pakistan: Energy Resources1
Panama: Energy Resources8
Papua New Guinea: Energy Resources6
Paraguay: Energy Resources2
Peru: Energy Resources12
Philippines: Energy Resources23
Poland: Energy Resources4
Puerto Rico: Energy Resources1
Qatar: Energy Resources1
Republic of Macedonia: Energy Resources8
Republic of the Congo: Energy Resources2
Romania: Energy Resources2
Russia: Energy Resources9
Rwanda: Energy Resources6
Saint Kitts and Nevis: Energy Resources4
Saint Lucia: Energy Resources1
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Energy Resources5
Samoa: Energy Resources1
Sao Tome and Principe: Energy Resources2
Saudi Arabia: Energy Resources1
Senegal: Energy Resources3
Serbia: Energy Resources6
Singapore: Energy Resources3
Slovakia: Energy Resources2
Slovenia: Energy Resources1
South Africa: Energy Resources18
South Korea: Energy Resources5
Sri Lanka: Energy Resources2
Sudan: Energy Resources3
Suriname: Energy Resources2
Swaziland: Energy Resources1
Syria: Energy Resources1
Tajikistan: Energy Resources4
Tanzania: Energy Resources6
Thailand: Energy Resources26
Togo: Energy Resources1
Tonga: Energy Resources1
Trinidad and Tobago: Energy Resources6
Tunisia: Energy Resources9
Turkey: Energy Resources3
Turkmenistan: Energy Resources4
Turks and Caicos Islands: Energy Resources2
Uganda: Energy Resources5
Ukraine: Energy Resources12
United Arab Emirates: Energy Resources2
United Kingdom: Energy Resources5
United States: Energy Resources25
Uruguay: Energy Resources4
Uzbekistan: Energy Resources4
Vietnam: Energy Resources32
Yemen: Energy Resources2
Zambia: Energy Resources5
Zimbabwe: Energy Resources3

Below you can add a country-specific program, organization or tool to the LEDS gateway that will populate the country pages to inform LEDS scoping activities.

Programs and Projects (1155) Add
Tools (1637) Add
Research Institutions (279) Add
Policy Organizations (140) Add
Networking Organizations (114) Add
Clean Energy Companies (13705) Add
2.1.1. Summarize development goals

Check List
The stakeholder group and technical teams can:

  • Review and summarize existing documents such as national strategies and sectoral development plans (e.g., national multi-year economic development vision and strategy documents)
  • Review existing policies, practices, and technologies, by sector, to assess their impact on development and emission trends
  • Assess existing institutional capacity to develop and implement LEDS strategies. Review which ministries are actively contributing to LEDS design and implementation and the skillsets of the staff members committed to the initiative. It is also important to assess whether this available capacity might be sustained over election cycles and turnover.

Products
Assessment of current plans, policies, practices, capacities

  • Existing policies affecting economy-wide emissions trends
  • Existing policies, technologies and practices by sector and how they affect emissions and removals in that sector and in other sectors
  • Existing institutions and institutional capacities
  • Existing national and regional development goals
  • Existing GHG emission reduction goals or strategies (if any)
  • Existing REDD+ strategies and programs

Analysis of lessons learned from relevant previous sustainable development efforts in the country

  • Policy reforms
  • Technology transfer or stimulation
  • Government, NGO, and private sector programs and projects

Summarize national and regional development goals, e.g., as articulated in public documents and strategies. It is crucial that the LEDS process responds to and supports national development goals. For example, weaving broader gender equity development goals into the LEDS will improve ownership and resource commitment to the LEDS.

2.1.2. Review existing energy strategies, programs, and data

A number of countries have developed strategies and development programs for the energy sector, and may also be partnering with organizations like the World Bank, UNDP, or GTZ on energy programs. These should be reviewed to understand potential complementarities and ensure that multilateral efforts support the country's process to develop and implement a LEDS.

Stakeholder groups and technical teams can also determine whether there are sufficient data available to develop business as usual (BAU) projections for the economy and development, including energy demand and supply.

Potential data sources

2.1.3. Review existing land use strategies, programs, and data

This stage is an opportunity for countries to consider Landscape LEDS within the context of multi-sectoral LEDS, national development priorities, and existing climate related programs. To ensure that the landscape LEDS incorporates existing studies and actions already underway, stakeholder groups should begin with an initial review of:

  • current climate initiatives generally and climate and landscapes initiatives specifically (e.g., climate action plans, NAMAs and NAPAs, World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility activities, World Bank Forest Investment Program activities, UNREDD, bilateral programs, and general climate initiatives through World Bank, UNEP, etc.)
  • existing land use initiatives (e.g., illegal logging initiatives, sustainable forest management programs, agroforestry activities, agricultural intensification initiatives, etc.)
  • existing REDD+ and forest conservation initiatives at a national, sub-national or site level
  • data related to forests, agriculture, land management, and climate issues (e.g., forest inventories, agricultural assessments, forest resource assessments, forest and terrestrial carbon inventories, deforestation-related studies, GHG emissions inventory, carbon supply curves, etc.)


Countries that are already participating in the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), UNREDD, or bilateral REDD+ programs will have undertaken initial analyses, planning, and strategy design processes. Many of the core elements of those programs are consistent with the landscape elements of the LEDS. The LEDS process is designed to be broader than these REDD+ programs and integrates the FCPF and other REDD+ processes with development objectives. Stakeholders can use this section of the LEDS framework to identify areas where additional technical and financial assistance is needed, and to incorporate REDD+ and landscape activities into a multi-sectoral LEDS. Countries that do not have ongoing landscapes or REDD+ programs can use this module to develop a LEDS for landscapes from the beginning. In both cases, this process maps out the elements of a LEDS that effectively incorporate the reviewed studies and identify remaining steps.

2.1.4. Assess policies that influence landscape emissions, including land use, governance, and forest and agricultural policy

This stage should be stakeholder-led, including the private sector and non-governmental community, given the stakeholder group’s ability to evaluate policy feasibility from multiple technical, market, and social perspectives. Additional stakeholders could be included in a final review and iteration of the policy portfolio.

To identify key drivers of landscape-based emission, the stakeholder group must assess land use, governance, and policies that influence land cover and land cover change, such as forest, agricultural, energy (especially biofuels and household cooking energy), transport (especially placement of new roads), resettlement, and rural development policies. The stakeholders should also review past experiences in all policies areas that may have an impact on landscape-related emissions and absorptions. Past policies could include experiences with reducing deforestation and forest degradation, forest landscape restoration, intensifying agricultural production, and managing landscapes. This assessment will contribute to the prioritization of activities and identify promising approaches for the emerging LEDS. This analysis should provide data on land use and other trends and important insights into lessons learned, challenges, and opportunities to overcome those challenges.

The LEDS should address the drivers of deforestation, degradation, and landscape emissions identified in this assessment. The LEDS may include reforming policies that caused landscape emissions in the past. It should be designed to overcome the challenges and issues that led to underperformance in previous programs.

Questions, steps and products for land-use sector policy assessment
Key Questions Check List Product
Assessing policies that may influence landscapes emissions and absorptions, including land use, governance, forest and agricultural policy
  • What land use, governance, forest and agricultural policies cause landscape-based emission and absorptions?
  • What policies and economic drivers create incentives for high-carbon land use?
  • What different ministries and agencies are involved in land use decisions?
  • Who are the agents of deforestation and degradation, and the actors affected by this activity?
  • What past experiences with reducing deforestation and forest degradation, intensifying agricultural production, managing landscapes and restoring forests offer important insights into lessons learned, challenges and promising approaches for landscape LEDS?
  1. Identify proximate causes of landscape emissions including sanctioned and unsanctioned activities
  2. Identify underlying drivers of landscape emissions
  3. Identify experience with, and opportunities for, forest landscape restoration
  4. Identify possible interventions including programs, policy reforms and other activities that would resolve these drivers of emissions or encourage forest landscape restoration
  5. Assess the economic, political, environmental and social implications of different possible interventions
  6. Review past efforts and lessons learned from this and other countries
  7. Develop a common vision of priority drivers and interventions to address those drivers. At this stage the list of potential interventions can be overly-comprehensive, and can be further refined as the plan is developed.
  • Identification of causes of landscape emissions including policies and governance conditions
  • Prioritization of interventions that address causes of landscape emissions