Samoa’s Impressive Feat in Building Capacities for NDC Implementation

To achieve its global commitment given via its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Samoa has undertaken efforts to adapt to and also mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. A key aspect of Samoa’s NDC is the transition of its diesel-dependent power sector to renewable energy (RE). As part of this, Samoa has initiated the Improving the Performance and Reliability of Renewable Energy Power Systems (IMPRESS) project, which will be implemented by the Government of Samoa with support from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The goal of this five-year initiative is to improve the sustainable and cost-effective utilisation of RE resources for energy production, to be implemented through RE development and demand side policies and actions. The project will directly contribute to the achievement of Samoa’s goal of 20% of all Energy services to be supplied by renewable energy resources by 2030, as stated in the Strategic Action Plan of the National Energy Policy, and its NDC target of achieving 100% of power generation from RE sources by 2025.

To enhance transparency and be able to track and support the project’s objectives, Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) has developed a RE project registry and a monitoring plan, and has implemented wide-ranging awareness-raising exercises on its NDCs. The awareness campaigns aim to increase
younger generations’ support for Samoa’s global climate change commitment and improve community-based efforts and involvement to achieving the NDC, so as to create a sustained enabling environment for climate actions.

The case study qualifies as a good practice as it implements pioneering approaches for power Generation and financing in the country, is characterised by a strong stakeholder engagement (inter alia with youth and women) and enjoys the strong political buy-in by the highest levels of government.