Grants for the application of the ICAT Transformational Change Toolkit

The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT)

The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) was established in 2015 at the COP that adopted the Paris Agreement to support implementation of the Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework. The Initiative works with over 50 developing countries ranging from large countries, like Nigeria, to small islands, such as Antigua & Barbuda, and has initiated three Regional Climate Action Transparency Hubs in Central Africa, Central Asia and Central America.

ICAT provides countries with tailored support and practical tools and methodologies to build robust transparency frameworks needed for effective climate action in sync with national development priorities. The projects ICAT supports relate to: building or enhancing transparency frameworks for mitigation; building a monitoring and evaluation approach for adaptation; building or enhancing frameworks to track progress in implementing nationally determined contributions; assessing the impacts of climate policies;  estimating or enhancing projections of greenhouse gases; integrating and/or aggregating climate actions at the subnational level and by non-State actors; building a tracking system for just transition processes; establishing or enhancing a climate data system; and putting in place a framework to track climate finance.

To support these areas, ICAT offers a suite of practical, open-source tools and methodologies to provide effective support to the transparency efforts of countries around the world.

ICAT is an unincorporated multi-stakeholder partnership steered by the Donor Steering Committee (DSC), composed of donors, Austria; Canada; Germany; Italy and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and includes the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat as the dedicated UN body with a climate change policy mandate, and UNOPS as an ex-officio member. The Initiative is hosted by UNOPS on behalf of the DSC. Within UNOPS, the ICAT Secretariat manages ICAT day-to-day activities, coordinating and guiding the work of the implementing partners.

Background of the grant

The ICAT Transformational Change Toolkit is a set of easy-to-use tools that support the assessment of potential transformational impacts of a wide range of climate policies, actions, and projects, covering both mitigation and adaptation. These are referred to as interventions in the Toolkit.

The Toolkit is composed of the following tools:

• The Carbon market tool: assesses the transformational impact of interventions with a carbon market component, i.e., interventions where emission reductions may be partially or totally traded.

• The Investment tool: assesses the transformational impact of investments by funds or private companies.

• The General assessment tool: assesses the transformational impact of interventions that do not fall under two tools above. 

• The Portfolio tool: aggregates and compares the transformational impacts of several single interventions grouped under a portfolio. Such a portfolio may be artificial or correspond to an existing package of interventions, such as a country’s NDCs.

Objective of the grant/funding

The objective of this grant is to develop a series of case studies to expand the knowledge base on possible applications and benefits of the Toolkit. To support this, ICAT is looking to identify local organizations (including governmental entities and non-governmental organizations, such as research institutions, think tanks, academic/university institutions or grass roots organizations) to apply the Toolkit in developing countries over a seven-month period, starting no later than Q2 2025. The case studies should also result in feedback that will contribute to improving the Toolkit and its usability.