On 26 May a national workshop was held to discuss the preliminary findings of the study “Development of NDC Financing Strategy and Investment Plan”, carried out under “EU4Climate” project, that is funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP in Armenia.

The study aimed to reveal the available financing options and to develop implementation roadmap and investment plan of NDCs, that will assist the implementation of the primary and additional measures, with an ultimate goal to meet the NDC 2021-2030 targets under UNFCCC adopted in 2021.

With the participation of around 63 representatives from the Deputy Prime Minister’s office, Ministries of Environment, Finance, Economy, Territorial Administration and Infrastructure and related state bodies, private sector, NGOs, as well as UNDP in Armenia, the workshop focused on analyzing the main issues, concerns and recommendations regarding climate financing and institutional framework, resource mobilization mechanisms and climate investment projects.

Mrs. Gayane Gabrielyan, the Deputy Minister of Environment, referring to the updated 2021-2030 NDCs under Paris Agreement, emphasized the importance of the adoption of the Financing Strategy and Investment Plan as a critical step towards the realization of Armenia’s climate pledge. She expressed her gratitude to the EU Delegation in Armenia and UNDP in Armenia for continuous support delivered to the country for reaching its ambitious climate goals and meeting the obligations under Paris Agreement.

“For the financial mechanisms of NDCs implementation, the Government of Armenia will include both domestic and external sources, engaging investments both from the public and private sectors, focusing on innovative investment tools”, said Mrs. Gabrielyan.

The speaker from EV Consulting, Mr. Hovhannes Atabekyan briefed on the general structure of the completed study and together with the company Expert Mr. Gor Ghazaryan delivered the main results and findings of the conducted work.

The 1^st Session of the workshop focused on discussion of climate finance architecture in Armenia, the gap analyses and the ways the strategy will address those gaps, as well as the main GHG emitter sectors of economy.

During the 2^nd Session, the key sources of climate financing generated from public, private and international programs, finance resource mobilization strategy and institutional setup were discussed. Utilizing alternative and innovative debt instruments for green bonds and green loans, effective mobilization of multilateral and bilateral climate finances, integration of climate-finance into the national MRV system and the existing finance gaps were covered.

During a follow-up Q/A session some gaps in analyzing transport section and recent updates in this field were raised by the participants and certain recommendations for further study were advised to the research group.

The measures aimed to facilitate climate financing and mainstreaming climate in budgeting, improving the legal, regulatory framework for NDC financing, building capacities for institutional framework, gender mainstreaming in climate action, the implemented, ongoing and planned climate mitigation actions, active investment programs in targeted sectors and additionally required financial needs were the focus of presentation and discussion in the 3^rd Session of the workshop.  

At the end of the workshop, Mrs. Aneta Babayan, the Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister expressed her gratitude for the productive workshop and informed the attendees on the main planning activities of the Government related to the topics of the discussion and the activities held under “EU4Climate” project in general. She stressed the importance of strategic and institutional capacity rebuilding and amendment needs in policy development, as well as the digitalization and innovation integration in state budget planning.

In the end, Mrs. Diana Harutyunyan, UNDP Climate Change Programme Coordinator, summarized the key points and issues discussed at the workshop and suggested to elaborate a protocol of the outcomes of the workshop to be shared with the participants. The received comments by them will further serve to the amendment of the draft report to better support the Government decision on climate financing.