Effective tracking of nationally determined contributions: A case study on South Africa

Abstract

The Paris Agreement’s enhanced transparency framework requires that all Parties track and report progress toward their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This paper develops a qualitative, multicriteria framework that can be used to either design effective NDC tracking systems or evaluate the extent to which Parties are prepared for NDC tracking. The paper also applies the framework to a case study on South Africa, with results indicating that the country is progressing well in terms of selecting appropriate indicators, enacting legislation, and enhancing transparency. In areas of collecting data, reporting on socioeconomic outcomes, and making changes in national policy, there is room for improvement, and the paper explores options to this end. Since South Africa has a relatively advanced system for tracking mitigation goals, the findings of the paper suggest that other developing country Parties may require additional resources and capacity to track NDCs effectively. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa 32(2): 11–25 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413-3051/2021/v32i2a8744 Published by the University of Cape Town ISSN: 2413-3051 https://journals.assaf.org.za/jesa This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence Sponsored by the Department of Science and Innovation Corresponding author: Tel.: +1 (202) 729 7621; email katie.ross@wri.org Volume 32 Number 2