The Paris Agreement and NDCs
2015 was a historic year in which 196 Parties came together under the Paris Agreement to transform
their development trajectories so that they set the world on a course towards sustainable
development, aiming at limiting warming to 1.5 to 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.
Through the Paris Agreement, Parties also agreed to a long-term goal for adaptation – to
increase the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience
and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production.
Additionally, they agreed to work towards making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards
low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.
Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the
achievement of these long-term goals. NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce national
emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. national emissions and adapt to the impacts of
climate change. The Paris Agreement (Article 4, paragraph 2) requires each Party to
prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that it
intends to achieve. Parties shall pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the
objectives of such contributions.
What does this mean?
The Paris Agreement requests each country to outline and communicate their post-2020 climate actions,
known as their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Together, these climate actions determine whether the world achieves the long-term goals of the Paris
Agreement and to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as soon as possible and to
undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with best available science, so as to achieve a
balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of GHGs in the second half
of this century. It is understood that the peaking of emissions will take longer for developing
country Parties, and that emission reductions are undertaken on the basis of equity, and in the
context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty, which are critical development
priorities for many developing countries.
To learn more about NDCs click here.
Each climate plan reflects the country’s ambition for reducing emissions, taking into
account its domestic circumstances and capabilities. Guidance on NDCs are currently being
negotiated under the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA), agenda item 3.
For more information on APA item 3, please click here.
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