Time & Date of Event 

9:30 AM to 10:30 AM on Friday, 11th of November 2022 

Event Overview 

This side event is intended to serve as a soft launch for the UNEP’s report: “Net Zero Carbon Scenarios for Energy Sector in West Asia”.  

The objectives of the report – and consequently of the side event – are the following: 

• Evaluate what the mitigation actions defined in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Economic Diversification Plans, and green growth strategies of countries in West Asia can achieve in CO2 emissions reductions from the business-as-usual scenarios. 

• Identify the key technologies that will help mitigate the CO2 emissions within the energy sector.  

• Assess the impacts and opportunities of mitigation actions in terms of employment and investments in the region. 

Aiming to achieve these objectives, the UNEP’s report: “Net Zero Carbon Scenarios for Energy Sector in West Asia” analyses the following three scenarios: 

• The Business as Usual (BaU) scenario, which considers a continuation of current trends of growth in the economy and energy demand. The energy mix remains the same as the base year. 

• The Current Policy Scenario (CPS), which is based on all the actions for the 3 sectors enumerated within the NDCs of the countries, as well as included in their national economic diversification strategies. 

The Enhanced Climate Action Scenario (ECAS), is based on the ambitious deployment of mitigation technologies identified by the countries themselves within their NDC and Economic Diversification Plans and additional mitigation technologies. 

Event Outcomes 

To encourage countries to commit to net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 °C within reach through open dialogues for creating large-scale mitigation programs