What’s the difference between the GGA and the NCQG?: a guide to baffling COP29 acronyms

Temps de lecture : 6 minutes
Image: WaterAid/ Tariq Hawari

Confused by climate jargon at COP? You're not alone. This blog breaks down some of the key terms you'll hear at the climate talks in Baku next month. From L&D to LLA, NDCs to NAPs, this explainer gives you the essential context behind the negotiations shaping global climate action. 

GGA

The Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) is one of the main components of the Paris Agreement. It is intended to reduce countries’ vulnerabilities to climate change and improve their ability to adapt to its effects. The GGA framework has seven thematic targets where countries have agreed to focus adaptation efforts: water and sanitation, food, health, ecosystems and biodiversity, human settlements, poverty eradication and livelihoods, and cultural heritage. Before the GGA framework is formally adopted at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the next step is for countries to agree on indicators to monitor progress towards each of these targets.

But reaching an agreement on the GGA indicators has not been straightforward. Progress was expected at the Bonn Climate Conference in June, but countries disagreed on several areas: who should lead the work to define indicators for the thematic targets, what the scope of the work should be, and how much support developed countries should provide developing countries to work towards the goal.  

Country negotiators did, however, agree to consult with relevant experts to define the indicators and we, with other water experts, have submitted revised indicators that could be used for the ecosystem and water and sanitation targets. 

Patrick Meru Kuloba, local councillor, stands by the River Suume, which often breaks its banks during heavy rains causing flash floods and mudslides in Namarango village, Uganda, September 2023. Image: WaterAid/ James Kiyimba

NCQG

The New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) is a new global target for climate finance. It is the successor of a previous goal, set in 2009 at COP15, where developed countries committed to providing $100 billion a year for developing countries to address climate change.

But there were issues with this target. It was missed every year to 2021 and was only met in 2022 when international climate finance (PDF) totalled US$116 billion. There was also evidence that the goal had been undermined, as funds were often given with strings attached, meaning billions of dollars were to be paid back to the wealthy countries that provided them. Data analysis by Reuters found that at least $18 billion had been provided as loans at market-rate interest, while billions more in loans or grants required recipients to hire materials, companies or public agencies – usually from the donor country – to complete the work.

Confirming the NCQG is one of the main outcomes expected at COP29, but it’s still unclear how much will be agreed after the tumultuous conversations in Bonn. Not only do negotiators have to align on the actual monetary amount, but they also have to agree on more technical aspects, such as what finance “counts”, who contributes, and whether there needs to be internal sub-targets for different categories of climate finance.  

Expected to be agreed this year, the goal will aim to fill persistent gaps in climate finance and be implemented with transparency, “taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries” into the future. In Baku, we’ll be advocating for the goal to provide the necessary finance for governments to implement their climate adaptation plans in full and deliver on the GGA.  

Chamnan accompanies her father On Sokdeth fishing and collecting lotus seeds on the Basac river in Saang District, Cambodia, February 2023. Image: WaterAid/ Tariq Hawari

NDCs

NDCs are Nationally Determined Contributions: the plans countries make for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate change, and recording the reductions in their emissions. Countries are responsible for submitting their NDCs to the United Nations every five years to communicate how they will contribute to achieving the Paris Agreement.  

NAPs

National Adaptation Plans – or NAPs – enable countries to identify their medium- and long-term needs to adapt to climate change, and to build and enact programmes to address them.

As climate change affects the availability, quality and quantity of water, it is crucial that water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are included in both NDCs and NAPs.  

Many of our national teams are already encouraging their governments to do this. At COP29, we’ll be calling for the next round of NDCs, due in early 2025, to include strong gender-responsive WASH indicators with costed programmes and budget allocations.

Shama has been living in a roadside camp for the past two months after unprecedented monsoon flooding destroyed her home in Sindh, Pakistan, October 2022. Image: WaterAid/ Khaula Jamil

L&D

Loss and damage (L&D) can occur from either gradual or severe climatic events and affect human societies and natural ecosystems. Loss refers to permanent and irreversible harm, such as riverbank erosion or diminishing freshwater sources, while damage refers to reparable injury, such as damage to infrastructure caused by climate change-related extreme weather events. 

At the UN climate summits, the term “loss and damage” is often used to refer to a specific fund to support countries that are especially vulnerable to climate change.  

Calls for the fund – which was finally established at COP28 after being first proposed by Vanuatu in 1991 – focused around the idea of climate justice: wealthy nations – the biggest contributors to global emissions – should provide money to ensure vulnerable countries can cope with devastating climate impacts they have done the least to cause.  

Proponents for the fund argue that countries constantly in “recovery mode” from climate-induced disasters cannot progress economically or socially. They should therefore have dedicated funds to recover from such events, so they can use existing resources for climate mitigation and adaptation, and general economic progress.  

The loss and damage fund is a contentious issue. It has highlighted the differences in perspective between the global north and global south, with disagreements over who would contribute to the fund, who would receive money from it, and where the fund should be located.

Safura Amadu carrying water from the well in Galaka, Ghana. Communities like Galaka experience water insecurity for part of the year and people often have to travel long distances to access clean water. September 2023. Image: WaterAid/Nana Kofi Acquah

LLA

Often, the people who are most directly affected by climate change are left out of critical decisions on how to tackle the crisis. When this happens, plans for how communities can adapt to climate change overlook the experiences and views of local people, as well as the solutions they have developed that are likely the most practical and relevant for the community.

Locally led adaptation (LLA) is an approach that helps to ensure all community members and their needs are included and represented in decisions about climate adaptation, and that they share accountability for those decisions. This helps communities adapt to climate change by instilling a sense of involvement and ownership over adaptation plans, and by empowering community members who often experience marginalisation.

JWPs

When it comes to climate change, water serves a dual role: it’s how people feel the impacts of the crisis, but it also provides the means with which to adapt. Despite this, not enough money has been allocated to water or to fund WASH services for climate adaptation.

To address this, the Global Commission on the Economics of Water has proposed a new mechanism: Just Water Partnerships – national platforms that bring together governments, banks and financial institutions, and civil society to make sure that decisions related to water are equitable. These stakeholders would support investments and catalyse greater private finance by strengthening the enabling environment and reducing and sharing investment risk, all while applying an “equity lens” to the decision-making process to ensure investments are distributed more broadly than simply where a business will generate the most returns.  

The application of an equity lens to water decisions strongly aligns with our commitment to achieving sustainable, safe and affordable water and sanitation services to all. To that end, we are working with like-minded peers to see how we can collectively bring this concept into being. In the months to come, we will be advocating for what good Just Water Partnerships should look like, bringing together governments and others that have already set up similar national platforms.  

Katherine Purvis is Digital Content Manager Policy, Practice and Advocacy. 

Top image: Teacher Gideon Babaubauep, 40, teaches a class at his school in East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, April 2024.