Framework for measuring sustainable development in NAMAs

The research project ‘Measuring sustainable development (SD) in Nationally Appropriate
Mitigation Actions (NAMAs)’ was initiated by the NAMA Partnership Working Group
on Sustainable Development (WG-SD). The aim of the research project is to improve
quantitative and qualitative measurement of the SD outcomes of NAMAs, thereby enhancing
understanding of how NAMAs can contribute to meeting national development goals.
The UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP), in collaboration with the International Institute for
Sustainable Development (IISD), and supported by the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat and the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), have jointly carried out the research.
The link between NAMAs and SD is crucial for developing countries, and although work
is underway on this topic, it is still in its early stages.1 The Bali Action Plan agreed under
the UNFCCC in 2007 agreed that enhanced action on mitigation would include NAMAs by
developing country parties in the context of SD. However, the question of how SD impacts
are to be integrated into NAMA processes remains open, as do questions regarding which
impacts should be assessed and how they should be measured. A substantial body of
research and best practices exist regarding how SD considerations have been integrated
into the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), such as the Executive Board CDM SD
Tool launched in 2014 and the Gold Standard (GS) certification of SD benefits in mitigation
projects, which can inform NAMA SD assessments. The global and flexible approach to the
selection of SD criteria and indicators found in these standards are common to all types
of mitigation actions, but they may not be directly suited to NAMAs, since globally defined
standards may not be in the interests of the implementing host countries. NAMAs are much
broader than the project-based CDM, potentially involving policy and sectoral actions, and
may require additional or different SD assessment tools.
In this context, the objective of the report is to develop a framework with criteria and
indicators for the assessment of the SD impacts of NAMAs, based on a review of the
literature on sustainability assessment tools and approaches, and a study of the different
stakeholder perspectives among developing country governments, support agencies, the
private sector and civil-society organisations.

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