Cambodia's Inclusive NDC 3.0: Bringing 1,000 Voices into Climate Action
In August 2025, Cambodia submitted its third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), reflecting a shift in how national climate action is coordinated in the country.
Led by the Ministry of Environment (MoE), the effort was anchored in an extensive engagement process involving government, civil society and development partners to define shared priorities. A range of partners provided support through the NDC Partnership, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
With embedded support and partner coordination through the NDC Partnership, the Royal Government of Cambodia strengthened cross-sectoral coordination and expanded stakeholder participation. The result is a more inclusive and costed NDC that better positions the country to mobilize climate finance and accelerate delivery.
Prioritizing Participation in NDC Development
Building from lessons learned in previous cycles, Cambodia used the NDC 3.0 process to expand and formalize stakeholder engagement. While time constraints limited participation in the last development cycle, early technical support in this round enabled the MoE and National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) to engage ministries and other stakeholders more systematically and over a longer timeframe, ultimately accelerating NDC 3.0 development and submission.
“The NDC 3.0 is a vital milestone for us,” says H.E. Dr. Eang Sophalleth, Minister of Environment and Chair of the NCSD. “We are addressing climate change not as an isolated issue but as a core component of our economic development. Our NDC 3.0 is a significant achievement — and the result of hard work and collaboration.”
Through MoE-led national and subnational consultations with government and civil society, more than 1,000 participants shaped the NDC 3.0 development process — including 650 stakeholders contributing to 17 sectoral consultations and more than 300 participants in provincial workshops. Through these consultations, the government updated stakeholders on the development process, reviewed progress on existing climate measures and facilitated discussions on new sectoral priorities.
The MoE also led targeted engagement with women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities. Over 150 young people participated directly in shaping NDC 3.0 measures, while an additional 550 shared their views through the Local and National Conference of Youth.
“During our NDC revision process, funding gaps limited participation by subnational actors, youth, women and Indigenous communities. Through the NDC Partnership, we mobilized additional resources and developed project proposals to close these gaps and strengthen ambition,” says Soeun Ung, the NDC Partnership Climate Finance Advisor.
This broader engagement directly shaped the NDC. The Climate Change Technical Working Group (CC-TWG) –– an interministerial body representing 22 ministries –– collaborated with Gender Mainstreaming Action Groups (GMAGs) from each ministry to review gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) considerations across all 163 NDC 3.0 measures.
As a result, Cambodia became the first country in the region to include “social protection, social services and child protection” as a dedicated sector in its NDC. This sector includes seven adaptation measures aimed at strengthening resilience among poor and vulnerable populations. These measures include shock-responsive social protection systems that deliver cash, in-kind support or health services to families facing climate disasters, and the National Graduation-Based Social Protection Programme that helps poor households build climate-resilient livelihoods through training and housing assistance.
“The ministry took a more systematic, broad and deeply integrated approach to engaging multiple stakeholders to ensure their voices and concerns are reflected in Cambodia’s NDC 3.0,” says Chanthan Kong, the NDC Partnership In-Country Facilitator at the MoE.
Planning Cross-Sectoral Action
Sectoral consultations and interministerial coordination enabled Cambodia to put forward more grounded and implementable measures across sectors.
The NDC Partnership in-country facilitator and the climate finance advisor working within the General Directorate of Policy and Strategy aligned technical assistance and helped to strengthen coordination capacity within government. With their support, the government translated technical inputs into a coherent, cross-sectoral NDC.
A strong emphasis was placed on linking technical line ministries directly to the NDC development process. Through regular bilateral meetings with development partners and ongoing coordination across government, the process ensured that the final roadmap reflected sector-specific inputs while remaining on schedule.
At the national level, the CC-TWG played a central role in coordinating input across ministries. The group supported technical reviews, greenhouse gas modeling and scenario analysis to ensure that sectoral input aligned with broader national priorities.
In total, 24 ministries and agencies contributed to the NDC, endorsing 163 measures — 49 mitigation, 75 adaptation and 39 enabling actions –– reflecting a more coordinated, whole-of-government approach compared to previous cycles.
“The support of UNDP, the NDC Partnership and all relevant stakeholders is the essential glue of our climate efforts. By resolving bottlenecks and coordinating across various ministries, the NDC Partnership in-country facilitator and climate finance advisor helped us turn national ambition into meaningful, measurable action,” says H.E. Sum Thy, Director General of the GDPS of the MoE and NDC Partnership Focal Point.
“With the NDC 3.0, ownership is the most critical factor. For climate action to be sustainable, the government must lead the entire process — from data collection and technical analysis to decision-making and resource mobilization.”
Costing the NDC
To finance inclusivity priorities shaped through consultations, Cambodia developed a detailed USD 32.2 billion costing analysis. This costing identifies the specific resources needed to implement all 163 NDC measures — including the new, previously unbudgeted social protection and child-sensitive adaptation actions.
The facilitator and climate finance advisor supported this process by working with line ministries to prioritize projects and carry out pre-feasibility assessments linked to stakeholder priorities. This resulted in five project notes designed to attract investment from sources like the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Cambodia is also strengthening its readiness to access climate finance. Ongoing NDC Partnership support includes capacity building on financial management systems, safeguards and governance frameworks, as well as steps toward direct access accreditation for national entities, including the Foreign Trade Bank and the General Secretariat of NCSD.
“Working in close collaboration with the MoE, we focused on climate change response and resource mobilization. Our goal is to move from high-level planning to investment-ready projects that can access international funds like the GCF,” says Mr. Ung.
From Planning to Implementation
Reflecting lessons from previous NDC cycles, Cambodia’s NDC 3.0 strengthens national ownership and civil society engagement.
As Cambodia moves into implementation, the country is seeking further support to advance its project pipeline, including efforts to strengthen food system governance and climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems in rural areas. Priorities include enhancing the technical capacity of the Council for the Development of Cambodia to track international climate finance flows, and sustaining coordination and climate finance mapping through 2026.
Read Cambodia’s NDC 3.0 and visit Cambodia’s NDC Partnership country page.
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NDC 3.0 development was supported by the following partners through the NDC Partnership:
UNDP, FAO, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Conservation International, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Secretariat hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Oxfam, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).