Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 2021.

This Nationally Determined Contribution is a nationwide sectoral document that updates the NDC of 2015 by enhancing ambition by the State of Qatar towards reducing its overall emissions in response to the guidance set forth in Article 4.4 of the Paris Agreement. Qatar intends to reduce 25% of its GHG emissions by the year 2030. The document is intended for the following sectors: Energy including transport and downstream industries; building and construction industry, water management, waste, and infrastructure. To maintain development and sustainable growth, a national vision was adopted to diversify the economy. The key areas for diversification with mitigation co-benefits are as follows (i) Oil and Gas, to enhance energy efficiency as a key measure to reduce GHG emissions; (ii) Power and Water, to continue creating awareness over the issue of water and energy wastage, especially among the youth, and in reducing consumption of electricity and water per capita; (iii) transportation; (iv) Building, Construction and Industry to achieve a circular economy in the sectors by implementing recycling and re-using construction waste; (v) Research and Development focusing on key topics of sustainability in Qatar’s energy sector and in management of environmental, food and water resources and the impact of climate change on them; (vi) Education as a key player in the steering and implementation of the national long-term climate change strategies via research, technology development, policies and regulatory frameworks, monitoring, measurements, evaluation, and incentive schemes; and (vii) Tourism.
Regarding food security, Qatar has launched a robust national strategy to optimize the use of the country's agricultural land and water resources and insulate domestic food needs from external shocks. The strategy focuses on four pillars: enhancing international trade and logistics, increasing domestic self-sufficiency in some niches (vegetables, red meat, and fisheries production), building strategic reserves, and enhancing domestic markets. Other measures are (i) developing the hydroponics greenhouse cluster to reach 70% self-sufficiency on greenhouse vegetables; (ii) putting in place adequate reserves, including perishables, selected non-perishables, potable water, and groundwater reserves to buffer against potential production disruptions.
To make the agriculture sector more productive and sustainable, Qatar aims to move towards more sustainable agriculture practices, including better optimization of agrochemicals usage and water efficiency, and the introduction of hydroponics greenhouses.
More efficient and inclusive agricultural and food systems will be enhanced by building transparency and efficiency in the domestic market through farmer support programs, food waste programs, and food standards governance initiatives.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the proposed interventions are (i) efficient water management, including increasing awareness via messages to residential customers with high consumption, switching to treated sewage effluent (TSE) for irrigation in parks, using recycled water in district cooling; (ii) restoration of marine habitats, particularly growing mangrove trees, and planting indigenous trees in urban areas and hence increasing the potential for carbon sequestration; (iii) enhancement of the overall infrastructure in the country with a strong focus on sustainability; (iv) formulation of a comprehensive urban development plan and sustainable urbanization and population distribution policy; (v) increased awareness for the creation of a shared understanding to effectively rally resources and stakeholders for joint problem-solving.
As for Governance, governed by the Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), the National Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) System will be designed to measure and validate progress towards the commitments made in this NDC guaranteeing best-practice accounting, transparency, precision, and comparability on climate change information.