To support Lebanon’s efforts to combat climate change and encourage the private sector to adopt the necessary actions to reduce gas emissions, the Ministry of Environment with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recognized 23 Lebanese companies and industries that declared to the Ministry their greenhouse gas emissions according to Minister of Environment decision No. 99/1(2013).

 

Although Lebanon only emits 0.07% of global greenhouse gas emissions, calculating and reporting its national emissions became a necessity across the years to provide an evidence-based approach to climate decision-making. Reducing carbon emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change is now a key component at the heart of socio-economic policies as it demonstrated economic impacts, business risks, and windows of opportunities for growth. Consequently, the Government of Lebanon has committed to a 30% emission reduction target by 2030 under the Paris Agreement, in line with its development priorities and as a mean to mobilize climate finance. Reaching this target can also only be expedited by involving the private sector and promoting the right partnerships. 

 

In line with this, the GHG emissions reporting mechanism, initiated in 2013 through a support by UNDP, aims at creating a broader and deeper partnership between the public and private sectors, to reach sustainable environmental management through a better assessment of the quality, quantity, and sources of greenhouse gas emissions from energy consumption and industrial production, by allowing private companies to know the details of their carbon footprint. Since 2013, around 20 companies report their GHG emissions regularly, on a yearly basis, with 44 companies reporting their emissions on 2016, the highest to date.

 

Through this initiative, the Ministry of Environment and UNDP are also working on providing reliable data to continue updating Lebanon's national reports on climate change that must be submitted by each country to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.