Aligning NDCs with 1.5°C, Net Zero, and LT-LEDS

This Expert Note is part of International Climate Action within Climate. Reach out to Cynthia Elliott for more information.

Countries have not yet committed to the collective emissions reductions needed to limit warming to the 1.5°C global goal. Recognizing this shortfall, policy discourse has increasingly called for the alignment of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) with long-term objectives to hasten the just transition to net-zero. While countries have agreed that NDCs should align with long-term mitigation objectives - national net-zero targets, LT-LEDS and the global 1.5°C goal - NDC alignment with these three long-term objectives is complex, and what constitutes alignment has not been agreed upon.

As countries prepare their next-generation NDCs, due in 2025 - which should reflect their highest possible ambition - they should consider the alignment of mitigation commitments with net-zero targets, LT-LEDS and the global 1.5°C goal. Drawing on academic and policy literature, this Expert Note unpacks NDC alignment in the context of each objective, and provides recommendations for those designing next-generation NDCs and assessing their alignment.

This note focuses on NDC alignment with long-term mitigation objectives, while recognizing that NDCs and LT-LEDS also address adaptation, development, finance, and other issues.

_{Preview image by Robert Foster / Winrock International US AID / Flickr}