Ulaanbaatar, 15 December 2020: The President of Mongolia, H.E. Battulga Khaltmaa reaffirmed Mongolia’s national climate pledge to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) during his pre-recorded speech at the global Climate Ambition Summit 2020 held online on 12 December 2020, marking the country’s renewed commitment to the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.

Under the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to develop climate pledges - also known as ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ or ’NDCs’ - that taken together will help tackle global warming. The agreement also calls on countries to revise and strengthen their NDCs every five years – and 2020 marks the first opportunity to do so. However, it is increasingly apparent that urgent steps must be taken to reverse current unsustainable trends, leading to high expectations for governments to commit to ambitious pledges that leave no-one behind.

In November 2019, Mongolia ambitiously raised its target to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions to 22.7 percent by 2030, through updating its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), which was approved by the Government Decree No.407. With that updated NDC, Mongolia committed to enhance its mitigation efforts with policies and measures to be implemented in six key economic sectors - energy, industry, agriculture, waste, construction, and transport.

At the Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December 2020, the President of Mongolia communicated that Mongolia could achieve a higher NDC target of 27.2% reduction in green house gasses if conditional mitigation measures such as the carbon capture and storage and waste-to-energy technology are implemented.

Mongolia’s NDC development and implementation process is nationally owned and driven by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism with support from UNDP along with other development partners in the country. UNDP supports Mongolia’s climate pledge through its NDC support Programme and the Climate Promise by supporting the development of updated NDC components and the planning for implementation of the NDC at sectoral level.

“UNDP Mongolia is pleased to continue our support to the Government of Mongolia and the Mongolian people in implementing climate change mitigation measures and remain committed to work with all stakeholders to accelerate achievement of Mongolia’s GHG reduction target together with the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.” said Ms. Elaine Conkievich, UNDP Mongolia Resident Representative

Going forward with the climate and sustainable development agendas at the national level, many of the climate actions and measures committed under Mongolia’s NDC also have the potential to generate mutual benefits across the 17 SDGs. Similarly, actions defined to meet Mongolia’s Vision 2050 targets have the potential to contribute towards achieving NDC commitments. The two agendas are interlinked and aligning their implementation provides a great opportunity to accelerate progress for a greener and more sustainable future for the people of Mongolia.

Click here to read Mongolia’s statement on its National Determined Contribution in full.

For more information on the Climate Promise, please visit https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/climatepromise.html https://www.ndcs.undp.org/content/ndc-support-programme/en/home.html https://www.mn.undp.org/content/mongolia/en/home/projects/deepening-efforts-to-accelerate-ndc-implementation-in-mongolia.html

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UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. Learn more at mn.undp.org or follow at @UNDPMongolia.

For further inquiries:

Erdenesukh Otgonbayar

Communications Officer

UNDP Mongolia

Tel: +976 9909 6434 Email: erdenesukh.otgonbayar@undp.org