CASTT Adaptation Academy

UNFCCC Climate Action and Support Transparency Training (CASTT)

CASTT is an official initiative of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) designed to provide capacity building and training to all levels of competencies within national climate governance and implementation. Under the broader CASTT banner, the Adaptation Academy program began in 2021, providing in-depth training courses for national climate focal points and ministerial representatives — particularly those from developing countries.

The Adaptation Academy is operated by the UNFCCC in a collaborative partnership with academic and research institutions across the globe. Partners include the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Korea Environment Institute (KEI), and Oregon State University.

Adaptation Academy: Advanced Training in Climate Adaptation and Reporting

The training aims to enhance the ability of participants, especially from developing countries to conduct vulnerability and adaptation assessments, prepare and report, in timely manner, information resulting from such assessments and the implementation of national adaptation actions, including their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), for their national communications, biennial update reports, and biennial transparency reports under the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) arrangements of the Convention and the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement. The goal is to enable a systematic, generational stepchange in capacity to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, its associated NDCs, and other climate commitments.

The 3-week training program focuses on imparting technical knowledge in the key components of the MRV and ETF frameworks, the exchange of views, lessons learned and experiences, and internalizing and mainstreaming climate change activities. Other major topics are anticipated to include planning, policy frameworks, coordination across ministries and governance levels, working with the private sector, finance and cost-benefit analyses, vulnerability and risk assessments, ecosystems, infrastructure, transboundary considerations, and social, gender, and cultural equity issues. Specific topics will also explore aspects relating to agriculture, DRR, energy, cities, coastal regions, and mountainous and high-elevation areas. In addition, the training will include components specifically tailored to regional climatic challenges of each node’s participants to put the broader lessons into more usable and practical contexts.

The Target Audience

The primary target will be individuals from developing countries who are involved in providing technical and substantive input for the preparation of their country’s MRV arrangements and the transparency framework, with a specific focus on adaptation reporting.

Upcoming Opportunities

Africa Regional Course. A short course developed mainly for Sub-Saharan African participants is set for 25-28 March 2024 at the Future Africa Campus at the University of Pretoria. Specific focus on the water-energy-food nexus and climate adaptation. This training is being co-organized with the University of KwaZulu-Natal and IHE Delft in collaboration with Adaptation Academy partners.

Asia Regional Course. Plans are underway for a week-long short-course focused on Asia taking place in Thailand in the second half of 2024 (tbc). Korea Environment Institute hosted an informational training webinar on 21 December 2023 to provide a brief overview of course topics. The future in-person training will be led by the Korea Adaptation Center for Climate Change of Korea Environment Institute (KEI-KACCC) and AIT in collaboration with Adaptation Academy partners.

Additional In-Person Courses. We are aiming for more multi-week courses organized with Adaptation Academy partners to draw a new cohort of global participants in late 2024. Updates will be posted on this page as plans are confirmed.

2021-2022 Trainings

In 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, three condensed training courses took place online via Zoom in September and October. Drawing from over 400 applicants, participants from more than 70 countries took part in the one-week courses. Adaptation Academy partners led three separate trainings, each with a regional focus tailored to the participant pool.

The 2022 Adaptation Academy short-course was held from 10-28 October, with attendance in-person at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education in Delft, the Netherlands. Altogether, 25 participants from across the globe converged for the three-week course. Visit the UNFCCC’s Adaptation Academy webpage or IHE Delft course page for more information.

Funders

AGWA’s involvement in the CASTT Adaptation Academy is made possible by financial support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.