Capacity-building

Introduction

Capacity building is fundamental to achieving the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement (Article 11) and has been identified as a priority in countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Many developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, still have gaps and needs in this area and require capacity-building support at the individual, institutional and systemic levels.

This page serves as an entry point to the various capacity-building processes, actors, and activities in the UNFCCC process.

Capacity-building Portal

...reaching out to capacity-building resources across the world

link to Portal

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An interactive tool that gathers and presents active information on projects, tools, courses and other resources that enhance the capacity and ability of developing countries to respond to climate change

Capacity-building support, needs and gaps

Support

Developed countries provide financial and technical resources to assist developing countries and EITs in implementing the frameworks on capacity-building and report on provision of capacity-building support in their biennial reports to the UNFCCC.

The Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 requests all developed countries to enhance support for capacity-building actions in developing countries.

The number of national policies and government and research entities dedicated to climate change established in developing countries has grown significantly in recent years, contributing to the enhancement of climate-related capacities in these countries.

National reports of developing countries to the UNFCCC also highlight progress made with regard to awareness-raising as well as educational activities and integration of climate change issues in school curricula.

Needs and gaps

While there is support, many developing countries report persisting capacity gaps of government staff and insufficient institutional capacities, including gaps related to inter-agency and cross-sectorial coordination.

Furthermore, countries report capacity needs related to mainstreaming climate considerations into their national planning and budgeting.

With respect to the implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures, technical and institutional capacity gaps and needs are reported in areas such as greenhouse gas emission accounting, research and systematic observation, data collection, risk modelling, and vulnerability assessments.

Developing countries also emphasize the need to build the capacities of local governments and communities, particularly for adaptation.

Despite the emergence of new capacity needs in areas such as implementing nationally determined contributions (NDCs), transparency, REDD-plus and climate finance, the priority areas for capacity-building identified in the two frameworks for capacity-building, established in 2001, continue to be highly relevant to developing countries (see also Monitoring and Review of the Capacity-building Frameworks).