Navigating NDCs 3.0: How to Raise Ambition and Drive Climate Action
The Need for Ambitious Climate Action
Since its adoption in 2015, the Paris Agreement has led to near-universal climate action and unprecedented international cooperation. Yet, the world is still falling short of its long-term goals — limiting warming to 1.5-degrees C, adapting to adverse climate impacts and mobilizing finance for low-emission, climate-resilient development.
At the end of 2023, the first Global Stocktake (GST), the most comprehensive assessment of the global response to climate change to date, underscored significant gaps in the level of ambition, pace of implementation and speed and scale of financing needed to deliver transformative, ambitious climate action.
Current ambition reflected in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), or national climate pledges under the Paris Agreement, put the world on track for a 2.5- to 2.9-degree C temperature rise globally. Such an increase would trigger severe consequences, including deadly heat waves, widespread droughts, food and water shortages and the collapse of marine ecosystems. Greater ambition, with stronger, full-scale implementation, is urgently needed to reduce emissions by 2035 to levels consistent with the 1.5-degree C pathway and build global resilience.
Countries are now preparing their NDCs 3.0, the next round of NDCs due in 2025. NDCs 3.0 are at once a chance to set in motion deep and rapid emissions reductions and adaptation actions that jumpstart tangible, and even transformational, changes that support sustainable development. To successfully set and achieve their ambition, countries need robust support and resources from across the global climate action landscape.
Defining and Delivering Ambitious Action
While signatories to the Paris Agreement share a common aim to achieve the long-term goals, set out at its ratification in 2015, the path to greater ambition in NDCs 3.0 varies by country. As part of NDC 3.0 preparation, countries must identify nationally appropriate opportunities and strategies to raise ambition and accelerate implementation, setting targets and planning actions tailored to their unique national circumstances.
The NDC Partnership, as a global coalition of over 130 countries and nearly 100 institutions, provides tailored expertise, technical assistance and funding to help countries achieve ambitious climate actions. The Partnership is currently supporting countries in developing ambitious NDCs 3.0 that set the stage for rapid implementation and financing, responding directly to the priorities countries define. Our country-driven approach ensures all support is fully aligned with the unique context in each country.
This approach is foundational to the development and use of the NDC 3.0 Navigator, an interactive online tool that supports countries in developing their NDCs 3.0 by bringing together expert-created strategies and resources to enable countries to reflect GST outcomes in their NDCs and enhance ambition in ways that are implementable and financeable.
The NDC Partnership developed the NDC 3.0 Navigator in collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, the UN entity tasked with overseeing the global response to climate change, and with technical input from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Resources Institute (WRI) and over 30 other partners.
The NDC 3.0 Navigator is non-prescriptive, enabling countries to explore their path to ambition and implementation at scale. The tool helps countries reflect on their current national circumstances, climate ambitions and wider development goals to identify and shape a nationally appropriate path to raise ambition. This reflection helps countries develop strong NDC 3.0 submissions and comprehensive requests for support for NDC 3.0 development through the Global Call for NDCs 3.0 & LT-LEDS, our primary support mechanism for NDC 3.0 preparation.
Routes to NDCs 3.0: Delivering on the Paris Agreement and Driving Sustainable Development
The Navigator presents seven “routes” that guide countries in preparing NDCs that deliver what is needed to address ambition, implementation and finance gaps identified in the GST while addressing national needs and priorities:
Together, the routes help developing countries map nationally relevant and impactful approaches to strengthening their NDC 3.0 submissions, drawing on the latest science and the outcomes of the first Global Stocktake. Each route includes example opportunities to raise ambition and strengthen implementation in that area and specific strategies for leveraging those opportunities.
In exploring different routes, opportunities and strategies for developing an enhanced NDC for 2025, the Navigator provides a framework for countries to produce NDCs 3.0 that deliver on the Paris Agreement, while promoting whole-of-government and whole-of-society engagement. It also helps countries address ambition, implementation and finance gaps identified in the GST, ensuring that their NDCs 3.0 are aligned with national priorities, contribute to global climate goals and drive sustainable development.
How to Engage
As a living tool, the Navigator will be expanded and updated over time as new knowledge and experience become available. Users can submit suggested resources, strategies and case studies for potential inclusion in the Navigator using this form.
Through ongoing virtual learning sessions and in-person regional fora, the NDC Partnership continues to ensure that countries have the knowledge, resources and support they need to effectively engage with the NDC 3.0 Navigator and the Global Call for NDCs 3.0 & LT-LEDS.
Explore the NDC 3.0 Navigator here in English, Spanish and French.