On 8 April 2021, the government of Georgia updated its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and pledged to reduce its total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reiterating its strong commitment to the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, whereby world leaders agreed to take action to limit the overall temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius, while aiming to keep it at a safer threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius. To reach this ambitious goal, the Government of Georgia developed two critical roadmaps, the National Climate Strategy 2030 and the Action Plan 2021-2023.
The strategic document provides some useful background information with regard to Georgia’s present environmental situation: “After the restoration of Georgia’s independence in 1990, industrial activities and related emissions declined well until 2002, when the activities in this sector resumed. By 2015, industrial emissions tripled compared to 2001. Modern and efficient technologies remain unintegrated in industrial activities. Old equipment is still in heavy use.”
The National Climate Strategy 2030 includes policies covering the following sectors: energy generation and transmission, transport, buildings, production, agriculture, waste and forestry. In accordance with the strategy, the Action Plan 2021-2023 outlines concrete steps to be taken in each sector.
Besides the general goal of reducing GHG emissions to 35% by 2030, the National Climate Strategy analyses the seven sectors mentioned above and sets feasible targets for each of them. Some of the key components include:
In a recent statement, Nino Tandilashvili, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, underscored the importance of making such changes: “Climate change is one of the most important issues on the world agenda; it applies to everyone and is relevant to our country as well. The Paris Agreement obliges countries to be more ambitious in their policy of mitigating climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For Georgia, the issue of climate change is part of the Association Agreement and in this regard, we are actively working with the EU to facilitate climate change mitigation.”
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