Dominican Republic

About

Since joining the Climate and Clean Air Coalition in 2012, the Dominican Republic has a launched several initiatives to address the interrelated challenges of climate change and air pollution.

In 2015, the Government of the Dominican Republic submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In its NDC, the Dominican Republic committed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels. The country has since been working with the Coalition's Supporting National Action Planning (SNAP) Initiative to advance its international commitments.

In 2018, the Dominican Republic developed an integrated emissions inventory of greenhouse gases, short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) and air pollutants. This work led to the launch of an assessment in 2019 that will help to evaluate the effectiveness of SLCP policies and mitigation measures and be used to produce a recommendation report to for the NDC revision process.

More examples of the Dominican Republic's work are highlighted below.

Other activities

Domestic activities

The country has developed a feasibility study determining CO₂e emissions from the porcine sector and CO₂e emissions from the livestock sector. As well as reducing emissions in rice cultivation at the national level through changing production technology. As part of a national measure, the Dominican Republic has introduced the carbon tax for the transport sector with respect to its CO₂ emissions, at the first license plate tax.

In 2007, the Renewable Energy Law 57-07 came into force and in 2008 the Renewable Energy Regulation No. 202-08 was signed for the application of the Law. Law 57-07 grants numerous incentives and tax exemptions to investors in renewable energies.

The government of the Dominican Republic and UNDP as the lead implementing agency have just finalized this year (2023) the Kigali Implementation Plan for the reduction of Hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs.

The government of the Dominican Republic has increased its capacity to develop a new energy efficiency program, including raising awareness about energy efficiency in air conditioning equipment and the feasibility of an energy efficiency testing laboratory, in coordination with the roadmap of sustainable refrigeration in the Dominican Republic that is expected to be completed soon.

Dominican Republic develops a high-efficiency stove project in the border area between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in order to avoid deforestation and increase forest cover in that region, reducing emissions from deforestation, and also increase the standard of living of the border rural population through cleaner air and a reduction in women's firewood collection time. This initiative could be developed through a Program of Activities (PoA) under the CDM, NAMA, or through Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement for which a study on the use of firewood in the border area of the country has just begun.

International Activities

The Dominican Republic is fully involved in international negotiations on climate change. Starting in October of this year (2023), he will chair, together with the United Kingdom, the board of directors of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which channels resources to developing nations that it helps in their efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of global warming.