Environmental sustainability

Environment and Climate Change Strategy of Luxembourg's Development Cooperation

Luxembourg Development Cooperation's Environment and Climate Change Strategy defines the strategic approaches to environmental protection and the fight against climate change. This approach is in line with Luxembourg Development Cooperation’s priorities set out in its general strategy "The road to 2030" and takes into account the other fundamental cross-cutting themes of Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation, namely gender equality and respect for human rights, which are closely linked to environmental and climate challenges.

Context and challenges

Major global environmental changes, including climate change, the loss of biodiversity, pollution and desertification, are altering the human and natural systems that underpin human well-being and economic activity. These major changes will continue to influence how countries develop. They constitute a serious threat as well as a major challenge to societies’ ability to satisfy basic human needs, promote justice, peace and security, and pursue sustainable growth and development.

The Environment and Climate Change Strategy has been developed in parallel with the Gender Strategy of Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation, in order to ensure the gender/climate nexus. This thematic interdependence is essential because women are disproportionately affected by the impacts of environmental and climate change, while also playing an essential role in combating these changes. The differential impacts of climate change on men and women are closely linked to the division of labour, domestic responsibilities and control, and access to resources. While climate change is not the source of all ills, it does have a multiplier effect and is becoming an aggravating factor in inequalities and environmental and socio-economic risks.

Overall objective and specific commitments

In terms of the overall objective of its Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation aims to ensure that all its activities and/or support foster development pathways that are sustainable, inclusive, renewable-energy or low-carbon and resilient to the effects of environmental and climate change, in accordance with international environmental conventions, the 2030 Agenda and the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

By 2030, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation is thus specifically committed to:

on the one hand, increasing the environmental and/or climate co-benefits of its portfolio of interventions in its priority sectors;
on the other hand, financing a greater number of dedicated projects promoting the resilience of human and natural systems to climate risks and/or environmental degradation.

Implementation

The gender and environment/climate strategies have been set out in an action plan and eight tools common to the gender/environment/climate themes to support development cooperation in the implementation of their projects. These tools, developed together with LuxDev and NGDOs, are considered to be living documents, which will be adapted and completed according to feedback from those who use them.