Seite - (000171) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

Thepurposeof theevaluationwas topromoteaccountabilityand learningabout GEF’s mitigation programme and across GEF overall. It assesses the extent and ways inwhichGEFsupport contributes tomarket change to reduceCO2emissions andmitigates climate change, and derives lessons to improve the effectiveness of futureGEFsupport. The evaluation concluded that GEF projects achieved significant direct GEF emission reduction, although indirect emission reduction – which is difficult to measure–mayaccount formuch larger reduction.Theevaluation found thatof the 18 projects covered, in 17 cases therewas broader adoption of promoted technol- ogies, approaches and strategies, beyond the direct scope of the project. It found that the projects that demonstrated high progress towards long term impact were those that had adopted comprehensive approaches to addressmarket barriers and specifically targeted supportive policy frameworks. The evaluation found that the methodologies being used by project teams to measure GHG emissions and to calculate ex-post emissions reduction at project completionwere inconsistent and containeduncertainties. Theexperiencegained throughconducting theevaluationmademethodological challenges in evaluatingGEF support salient. It was challenging to draw conclu- sions and lessons froma largediversityofprojects thatGEFfinancesand thewide range of sectors that it covers. Another challenge is the assessment of GEF contributions to change when multiple actors, factors and conditions affect out- comes.Similarly, inconsistencyand inaccuracies inmeasurementposedifficulties. This paper presents methodology adopted to evaluate the contributions of GEF support to initiatives seeking to reduce climate change emissions. 9.2 UtilityasaGuidingFactor toDefineWhatNeeds toBe Evaluated The initial step was to identify the overall topic and the key questions that the evaluationwouldaddress.Thekeycriteriawere the extent towhich the evaluation could provide useful information to inform futureGEF support on climate change and the extent to which there were sufficient completed projects to carry out an impact evaluation. The climate change mitigation strategies and programs supported by theGEFwere reviewed.Given thatmost climate changemitigation projects supported by the GEF aim at transforming markets for reducing green- house gas emissions, this emphasis became a starting point for developing the evaluation questions. Evaluation questions were developed in consultation with the GEF Secretariat staff especially those from the climate change mitigation program, and GEF Partner Agencies that were responsible for implementing theseprojectson theground.Thisprocess led to threeoverall evaluativequestions. 9 MethodologicalApproachof theGEF IEO’sClimateChangeMitigation. . . 155