CAN Submission on Work Programme on Mitigation (MWP): Matter related to the work programme for urgently scaling up mitigation ambition and implementation, February 2023

CAN welcomes the COP27 decision on the Work Programme on Mitigation (MWP) by parties as starting points for addressing the concerning pre-2030 emissions gap. This will require enhancing deep emissions reductions in all countries in all sectors and addressing all greenhouse gases (GHG). CAN supports the science showing that only immediate, far-reaching, ambitious, just and equitable emissions reductions will give the world a chance to stay within the 1.5°C survival limit.

CAN, however, endorses the necessity for strategic and sectoral deep dives and not deal with all issues in parallel. As a result, CAN is encouraging the MWP to take a targeted approach rather than a broad one in its planned workshops for 2023. All other energy (sub)sectors, including land use, can certainly be addressed later.

To do so, CAN strongly suggests focusing the MWP in 2023 on the decarbonisation of the power sector with the following sequencing:

We encourage the UNFCCC to expand the work to at least four dialogues/workshops and focus each one on specific sub-topics.

• Workshop 1 – Broader scope in energy sector: Phase out of Fossil Fuels and Clean Alternatives in a just, macro-economic efficient, reliable, affordable and sustainable manner.
• Workshop 2 – Scale up of Clean Energy/Legislation & Regulation: including lessons learned from countries on what has worked, and what has failed.
• Workshop 3 – Target setting for clean energy nationally, regionally and locally: participatory and scientific, economic approaches from the regions, including options for electricity-based clean energy for heating and cooking that are the main types of energy consumption in many countries.
• Workshop 4 – Financing: How to move the trillions from fossil fuels to clean energy investments and address the cost of capital barrier.

When CAN suggests ‘clean energy’, we refer always to the composite technology mix of clean renewables, particularly solar, wind, geothermal, energy efficiency as well as energy savings and the needed infrastructure like grids, storage etc