In order to limit warming and corresponding human rights impacts, Parties to the Paris Agreement are required to develop and implement nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to meet the global warming target. NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and embody “efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.” Many countries, especially developing countries, which in comparison to developed countries cause less GHG emissions but are often more heavily affected by climate change, have also defined climate change adaptation measures in their NDCs.
The NDCs submitted so far by the State Parties to the Agreement are insufficient to limit warming to no more than 1.5°C, and their implementation lags even further behind. The world is far off-track. As a consequence, the COP26 outcome requested Parties to revisit and strengthen the 2030 targets in their NDCs to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022.