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Over 30 partner countries have received support with developing their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Environment Ministry implemented by GIZ, UNDP, Climate Analytics, CCAP, Ricardo AEA, and CAOS. Some of these, such as Argentina, Indonesia, Thailand, are emerging economies, while others – including the Marshall Islands and St. Lucia – are small developing islands. The group also includes some of the least developed countries in Africa, such as Angola, Gambia and Malawi. Most of the INDCs benefiting from support were submitted to the UNFCCC before October 2015, and all were submitted before the climate summit in Paris the following month. The core element of INDC support involved strategic and conceptual advisory work, mainly implemented through collaboration with local specialists and in many cases focusing on specific sectors in coordination with other donors focusing on other sectors. In most cases, the work began with technical studies and a stocktake of mitigation activities to identify further potential for reducing emissions. The INDC development process was also supported through the facilitation of interministerial working groups, stakeholder dialogue with the private sector and civil society, and decision-making and validation processes related to sector prioritisation and specific emissions reduction targets. GIZ implemented the project in cooperation with UNDP and the NGO Climate Analytics.

At global level, the project ran two webinars on NAMA and INDCs, attracting 170 participants and demonstrating the importance of this area. Further workshops were organised, allowing experience to be shared on a regional basis, and various strategy papers and manuals have been published, including the first Process Guidance for INDCs worldwide and an interactive web tool for INDC preparation and review. At a global workshop on INDCs in April 2015, organised by GIZ and UNDP, more than 80 representatives from 50 countries shared their experiences on the challenges involved in developing INDCs and learned from the first governments to have submitted their INDCs.

The project captured experiences from national INDC development processes and processed them for dissemination, for example via inputs to the UNDP-UNFCCC regional dialogue and collaboration with research projects and think tanks. Analysis carried out in cooperation with the think tank NewClimate Institute (NCI) showed that the process of preparing INDCs has catalysed enhanced in-country technical capacities and promoted policy agendas on climate change mitigation.

Two further policy papers provide insights into INDC conditionality and what the Paris Agreement means for INDCs in terms of the next steps in implementing the Agreement.

Based on the project experience and research undertaken by NCI, a synthesis report has been produced, including examples of good practice on INDC development. Considering the challenges and lessons learned from the INDC preparation process adds value to the implementation and further development of countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in terms of processes, participation, transparency and ambition.

All materials can be accessed in the links section.