Designing and implementing national determined contributions under the Paris Agreement

Abstract

The Paris Agreement set the first legally binding commitment to keep global warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to ‘limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C’. It also introduced a novel system of nationally determined contributions—or National Determined Contributions (NDCs)—to pursue this goal. In this system, states determine unilaterally their individual targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, how they will achieve them, and what adaptation action they will undertake. However states’ autonomy in setting their NDCs is not unrestrained. Paris established a series of procedural obligations and due diligence obligations in relation to progression and ambition, which aim to drive emissions reduction commitments up and keep the temperature goal of the Agreement within reach. Accordingly, every five years states shall communicate a new set of NDCs, which must represent a progression in a state’s mitigation goals and reflect its highest possible ambition—that is, a state’s best efforts to set emission pathways that are compatible with the 1.5°C target. Developed states are required to take the lead in emissions reduction, and each state’s contribution must reflect its common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Additionally, states are required to adopt national legislation, administrative procedures, and enforcement mechanisms ‘with the aim of achieving’ the goals set in their NDCs. Finally, the Paris Agreement includes several mechanisms to increase transparency of states’ action and tracking progress, namely an enhanced transparency framework and a global stocktake, which increase scrutiny by other parties and by the public.