4. DANISH DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The Danida ’Climate and Development Action Programme’ outlines actions to be taken in Danish development cooperation in order to address the challenges of climate change and to mainstream climate change actions into development cooperation.

In line with the EU Action Plan, the Danish ’Climate and Development Action Programme’ includes the following four elements:

1. Raising the policy profile of climate change in multilateral and bilateral development cooperation to address adaptation to, and mitigation of climate change.
2. Adaptation to climate change in development cooperation programmes.
3. Mitigation of climate change in the context of development cooperation programmes.
4. Capacity development to address the challenge of climate change and take appropriate actions in development cooperation programmes and national programmes in partner countries.

By raising the policy profile of climate change, the aim is to enable the development policies and Danish development assistance to address climate change. In addition, through support to capacity development developing countries will strengthen their ability to address adaptation to and mitigation of climate change in their national development programmes.

The figure below illustrates the relations between the climate change complex and the elements of the ’Climate and Development Action Programme’.

4.1 Key Principles on Climate Change and Development Cooperation

Objectives

• Interventions in the area of climate change will help ensure that adaptation and mitigation, where relevant, is considered in order to improve the quality of Danish development cooperation.
• Integrating climate change into Danish development cooperation will mainstream climate change as part of the broader sustainable development agenda in cooperation with Danish development partners.
• Climate change will be addressed in Danish development cooperation along with economic, social, and environmental risk factors and be included as part of ’environment’ as a cross-cutting issue.

Adaptation

• Investments, including those supported through Danish development cooperation, must be ’climate proof’, i.e. must be protected from negative impacts of climate change, climate variability, and extreme weather events. The risk assessment should be based on projected rather than historic weather records.
• Adaptation is a development issue. The impacts of climate change have a direct influence on achieving the Millennium Development Goals, fighting poverty, and meeting other development objectives.

Mitigation

• Opportunities should be identified for the partner country to pursue climate-friendly energy solutions. This would help ’climate proof’ national development plans within the general dialogue with the partner country. While climate-friendly strategies are relevant in all countries, strategies for low-carbon development are particularly important in countries with emerging industrialization and rapid economic growth.
• Mitigation options can be explored in all sectors of the economy. However, the potential for larger emission reductions and sinks mainly lie in the areas of energy supply and use, transport, forestry, industry, waste, and in other sectors that rely heavily on energy use.

Procedures for collaboration and coordination

• ’Climate-friendly’ development strategies and processes shall be country-owned and country-driven.
• Integration of climate change considerations shall be undertaken within the existing national and Danida environmental assessment framework, with little modification to existing processes and procedures.
• Mainstreaming climate change issues into development planning and implementation implies that climate change should be integrated into existing policies and strategies. Therefore, parallel structures for handling climate change should be avoided, e.g. National Adaptation Programmes of Action shall be integrated in overall development policies and strategies of the partner country.
• To ensure country ownership to climate related activities, not only governments, but also affected communities, and the country’s private sector, NGOs, and research institutions need to take active part.
• To draw on traditional knowledge on adaptation, and as a supplement to modern knowledge and technology, existing indigenous solutions should be taken into account, especially in relation to natural resource management.
• Donors and their partners must work together and harmonize their efforts along the lines agreed upon in the OECD guidance on ’Harmonising Donor Practices for Effective Aid Delivery’.⁹

4.2 Areas of Climate Change Interventions

Integration of climate change concerns in Danish development cooperation will make use of ’windows of opportunities’ for raising the policy issues and influencing the design of development programmes and infrastructure investments. These opportunities emerge in particular with:

• High-level consultations with multilateral and bilateral partners.
• Development of country strategies for Danish development cooperation.
• Formulation of sector programme support and mixed credit projects.
• Technical consultations and joint sector reviews.

Other opportunities for ’climate change integration’ relate to cooperation with national and international NGOs, cooperation with civil society organisations, research institutions, and through private sector programmes. Activities in these areas are not directly covered in the ’Climate and Development Action Programme’. However, climate change considerations linked to these areas of cooperation may also benefit from the principles and actions of the Action Programme. 

With this Action Programme, climate change screening and related actions will be identified to address climate change in the following contexts:

• Climate Change in multilateral development cooperation (chapter 5).
• Climate Change in bilateral development cooperation.
  
  • Country Programmes: Country Strategies and Annual Consultations (chapter 6).
  • Sector Programmes: Programme Development and Annual Programme Reviews (chapter 7).
  • Mixed credits projects (chapter 8).

Within each context, as indicated in chapters 5-8, the following elements are identified:

• Target group, i.e. who in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Danida are responsible.
• Entry points, i.e. ’windows of opportunity’ in the AMG or other Danida actions.
• Basic principles, i.e. how to address the issue of climate change, where relevant.
• Screening points to identify the climate change issues to be addressed.
• Proposed actions divided into four sections according to the four elements of the Action Programme.

In implementing the actions listed in chapters 5-8, Danish embassies and foreign missions may obtain technical support from MFA in line with the procedures outlined in the AMG.

4.3 Screening for Climate Change

Climate proofing development plans and programmes is relevant in various contexts and at various levels. In Danish partner countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, it may be relevant to assist in ensuring that overall national development plans and strategies are screened for climate change. Where support to climate screening at national level may be requested, Denmark is prepared to provide assistance that is not directly linked to the Danida country programme¹⁰. Support of this nature should be carefully coordinated with relevant national authorities and multilateral and bilateral partners active in the area.

Regarding Danish bilateral development cooperation, screening for climate change impacts is relevant for Danida sector programme support and mixed credits projects. Climate change screening will be integrated as part of the mandatory Danida environmental screening for sector programmes and mixed credit projects. The elements of the climate change screening are:

• Addressing climate change in technical missions and relevant consultation meetings.
• Identification of design modifications that are required to address climate change.
• Assessment of adaptation actions that can be included as part of risk management.
• Assessment of mitigation options that can be pursued in development plans and strategies.
• Identification of relevant capacity development related to climate change in projects and programmes.
• Addressing climate change impacts in strategic environmental assessments and in full or partial environmental impact assessments, and related actions.

⁹) Guidance agreed upon with the ’Paris Declaration on Harmonisation’: (http://www.aidharmonization.org).

¹⁰) Support for national climate change screening may be provided separately through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.