On 17 June, the Georgian government submitted its national report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on the actions taken to combat climate change in the country, reported georgiatoday.

The key findings of the report were:

1. The average annual temperature in Georgia keeps increasing. In comparing two 30-year periods (1956–1985 and 1986–2015), the average annual temperature increased by 0.25 to 0.58 degrees Celsius in most regions and by 0.63 to 0.73 degrees Celsius in bigger cities and some districts;

2. With the current rate of global green house gas (GHG) emissions, the average annual temperature increase in Georgia can leap by 3.7 degree Celsius by 2100, far beyond the ‘safe’ increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius;

3. From 1990 to 2017, Georgia’s domestic GHG emissions equalled 462 million tons of carbon dioxide, only 31% of which was absorbed by forests; and 

4. If Georgia succeeds in implementing the mitigation measures outlined by its national strategies and action plans, its annual amount of GHG emissions can be reduced by 5 million tons by 2030 compared to a business-as-usual scenario.

Georgia is a signatory to key international agreements on climate change, including the 1994 UNFCCC, the 1999 Kyoto Protocol (Georgian joined in 1999) and the 2016 Paris Agreement. As part of its international commitments, Georgia submits National Communications to the UNFCCC every four years. Earlier in 2021, Georgia updated its Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement, pledging to unconditionally reduce its GHG emissions to 35 percent below its 1990 baseline level. 

Parallel to the government’s report, the Act4Climate campaign was launched in the country through the engagement of CENN, the Kakheti Regional Development Fund (KRDF), the Chiatura Union (ACU), the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Agritourism Development Association (RLS-ADA), and the Young Pedagogues Union (YPU). The campaign aims to raise awareness in the community, especially among young people, about climate change and simple daily actions to help reduce climate change and mitigate its negative effects.

The Act4Climate campaign is a part of the EU-financed Georgia Climate Program (GEO-CAP) launched in 2021. The campaign supports Georgia’s actions on climate change by introducing climate friendly behaviour, reinforcing cooperation and trust between state and non-state actors, strengthening regional civil society organisations via supporting the implementation of concrete initiatives with local communities and empowering people to engage in advocacy processes. This will result in collaborative climate actions in the target regions of the project. CENN will implement the GEO-CAP over the next 4 years together with partner organisations in 4 target regions (Guria, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi, and Kakheti) with the Human Rights-Based approach.