The NAMA Facility Ambition Initiative features several new characteristics that distinguish it from previous Calls (1st-7th), targeting an even higher level of ambition in mitigation projects to achieve transformation towards carbon-neutrality and to allow countries to build back greener as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. The new charactheristics include: Focus on enhanced and ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as an eligibility criterium; focus on NAMA Support Projects (NSPs) targeting sectors explicitly included in the enhanced NDCs; emphasis on the role of global cooperation in climate change mitigation, in particular on cooperation with the NDC Partnership (NDCP); the requirement to ensure contribution to existing national efforts for green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic; strengthened emphasis on innovation in the context of raised NDC ambition and consideration of applications for NSPs that require a small sized pilot for novel technologies before moving into a larger scale project. This focus on novel technologies is optional for NSPs; increased upper funding volume of EUR 25 million per NSP; disbursement of additional budget for highly successful NSPs; and possibility for commercial organisations to serve as Applicants/Applicant Support Partners (ASPs) and NAMA Support Organisations (NSOs).
