Making the Mitigation Work Programme fit for purpose: Options for forms, focus and information that would lead to successful implementation

Parties established the Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) at COP26 to ”urgently scale up mitigation ambition and implementation” to help reach the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. At COP27, Parties further fleshed out the MWP, which will be operationalised each year between 2023-2026 via at least two global dialogues, other dialogues and investment-focused events. This paper outlines key questions that could shape the aims, scope, focus, format, and participation in the dialogues, as well as the possible interplay between the MWP global dialogues and investment-focused events by drawing on experiences with other processes and events inside and outside the UNFCCC. This paper also provides lessons from examples in three sub-sectors where mitigation actions have been rapidly scaled up. This paper highlights several open questions related to the substance, process, and timing of the global dialogues and the investment-focused events, as well as potential linkages between these. The paper also discusses possible implications of different choices on these open questions. Decisions on the scope, format, and aims of the MWP dialogues will influence their impacts and the relevance of these dialogues to different countries and stakeholders. Yet, dialogues and events under the MWP will face trade-offs between concentrating on short- versus longer-term issues and outcomes and on choosing a broad or narrow focus. Such choices will impact how many countries the event or dialogue is relevant to. In addition, there are various ongoing initiatives and events outside the UNFCCC that are relevant to the aims of the MWP and that the MWP could usefully learn from. Careful mapping and co-ordination are needed to ensure that the MWP builds on, rather than duplicates, existing initiatives and events within and beyond the UNFCCC.