What are NDCs and how do they drive climate action?

What are Nationally Determined Contributions and where do they come from?

The Paris Agreement changed the face of climate action.

The legally binding international treaty, which was adopted in 2015 by all 196 Parties to the UN Climate Convention in Paris, established universal global goals endorsed by all countries. Primarily, this includes ensuring global average temperature rise is held well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. It also includes an aim to increase the ability to adapt to climate impacts, and make finance flows consistent with country needs to achieve these goals.

The Paris Agreement reflected a major change in international climate negotiations, creating a universal, country-driven approach to achieve collective climate goals, while also creating a framework for transparent monitoring and reporting of global progress.

One of the primary instruments for achieving the Paris Agreement goals is Nationally Determined Contributions (also known as NDCs). These are the national climate pledges that each Party is required to develop that articulate how they will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapting to impacts.

NDCs represent short- to medium-term targets and typically include measures for both adaptation and mitigation action and are required to be updated every five years. Each update is required to be more “ambitious”, thus having more stringent targets and helping the world get closer to 1.5°C.What can I expect to find in a country's NDC?

In their NDCs, countries provide a projected analysis of both climate risks and impacts. They also outline their plans to reduce emissions from the greenhouse gases causing climate change. NDCs specifically include countries' commitments to reducing these emissions and adapting to these climate impacts with either quantitative or qualitative targets, timelines, and a set of actions across priority sectors, such as energy, transport, agriculture, health, water, infrastructure, tourism, and much more.

Most countries have also included estimated budgets for achieving their climate goals, with many developing countries indicating the need for external financial support to implement some or all of their actions when they lack the necessary domestic resources. Technology transfer and capacity building support are also often requested by developing countries.

When targets are dependent on external financial support, these are marked as “conditional” targets. The targets a country can achieve without external financial support are referred to as “unconditional”.

Do NDCs matter?

The short answer is that yes, NDCs do matter. A lot, in fact.

First, NDCs matter because they reinforce the global goals agreed under the Paris Agreement and show exactly what each country is committing to reach these goals. They show us how much each Party aims to reduce their GHG emissions, by when, and which actions they will implement to get there. Taken collectively, NDCs can also demonstrate how close (or far) the world is to meeting our collective climate goals.

Next, NDCs are significant because they represent politically-supported plans for investing in crucial areas that have the potential not only to meet climate goals but also to power sustainable development. For example, 100 percent of NDCs supported by UNDP's Climate Promise have energy targets or policies, 90 percent cover the agriculture sector. Meeting these targets then not only addresses the climate crisis but can also help meet development priorities – like access to energy or food security.

As a result, NDCs can help governments to prioritize actions across all sectors and align their policies and legislation with climate objectives. For example, both Uganda and Nigeria enacted National Climate Change Acts in 2021, giving force of law to the Paris Agreement and their NDC.

Third, NDCs are universal. They are required by all countries – both developed and developing – and have been endorsed at the highest-level of governments. So, if used right, they could serve as our pathway to addressing the current crises facing the world – not just the climate crisis, but also rising energy and food prices, insecurity and instability, migration, the Covid-19 pandemic and so on.