São Tomé, August 2021 – Sao Tome and Principe commits to increased climate action measures included in the updated NDC.

The Santomean Ministry of Infrastructures and Natural Resources presented on 30 July 2021 the second national climate pledge to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), marking its renewed commitment to the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement where world leaders universally agreed to advance climate actions to limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to limit to a safer 1.5 degrees.  

Under that agreement, countries agreed to develop climate pledges - also known as ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ or ’NDCs’ - that taken together will help tackle global warming. The agreement also calls on countries to revise and strengthen their NDCs every five years. However, it is increasingly apparent that urgent steps must be taken to reverse current unsustainable trends, leading to high expectations for governments to commit to ambitious pledges that leave no-one behind.

Some key components from Sao Tome and Principe’s new climate pledge till 2030 include:

• A total Greenhouse Gases reduction target of 109 ktCO2eq (up from 57 ktCO2eq in 2015).
• The number of mitigation, adaptation and transversal measures, rose from 18 to 29 compared to 2015,
•  New target for increasing renewable energy production from 26 MW to 49 MW,
• Integration of mitigation and adaptation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience across key blue economy sectors including energy, transport, civil protection, fisheries, agriculture, livestock, forestry, water and waste management.

“In the global context, our assumed commitments may seem modest; however, nationally, they are quite ambitious with regard to mitigation. Once implemented, our targets would allow for the transition to clean energy and replace fossil fuels, which up to now have been the sole primary source for power generation in the country,” H.E. Osvaldo Cravid Viegas d’Abreu, Minister of Infrastructure and Natural Resources said. “These targets can help us achieve one of our country’s major challenges: sustainable energy production.”

“We hope that the continuous NDC update process will strengthen national awareness regarding the need to urgently act to combat climate change and its impacts, especially in this context of post-pandemic economic recovery,” Katarzyna Wawiernia, UNDP Sao Tome and Principe Resident Representative said. “Sao Tome and Principe’s new targets will encourage green and sustainable blue economy. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions of sectors, we are hopeful that key development issues such as energy and waste management can be addressed.”

UNDP Climate Change and Energy Specialist, Enrico Dal Farra, project manager of the Climate Promise project in STP underlined the strategic and cross-sectoral character of the updated NDC. “Productive sectors such as fishery and agriculture, show high climate vulnerability in Sao Tome and Principe, just as in other Small Island Developing States. They are therefore central to the country’s NDC to ensure resilience of the socio-economic fabric of the country, especially of the most vulnerable and poorest groups.”

UNDP supported Sao Tome and Principe’s new climate pledge through the Climate Promise by strengthening resilience of key blue economy sectors and increasing renewable energy transition with envisaged RE generation of 49 MW. UNDP’s Climate Promise aims to support global, transformational climate action by supporting countries to enhance their NDCs in 2021 and beyond. The initiative being delivered in over 118 countries – making it the world’s largest support offer of this kind. UNDP’s Climate Promise is supported by Germany, Sweden, EU, Italy, Spain, and other core contributors.

Click here to read Sao Tome and Principe’s NDC in full.

For more information on the Climate Promise, please visit:

https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/climatepromise.html

Media Contact:

For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Edlena Barros, edlena.barros@undp.org +239 2221122