Monitoring progress on long-term climate targets and strategies

Measuring progress towards long-term climate targets needs new monitoring systems

Existing EU and national monitoring systems are largely designed to keep track of progress towards short-term climate and energy goals, e.g., for 2030. The most important progress indicators used are the targets themselves, measured as level of emissions or the share of renewable energy – which require relatively little data to know whether a country is on target or not.

Getting a sense of actual progress towards long-term goals such as climate neutrality needs a different approach. This requires information on whether the underlying structural change is happening, in sectors and across them. Is the roll-out of electrification infrastructure happening fast enough? Are agricultural practices changing? Is the level of investment in clean energy sufficient? Are just transition policies working? What is the renovation rate in private buildings? Without data on such “below the surface” dynamics, progress towards climate neutrality cannot be measured.

This workshop will show what an assessment framework based on net zero indicators could look like. It will also present experience from national systems that are tracking structural change and monitor progress in enabling conditions. It will create an environment a productive exchange on how such indicators can and should be considered in the drafting of long-term strategies and how they might be deployed in monitoring their implementation.

The workshop is by invitation only. Please e-mail us for more information.