NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions)

NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) are the climate commitments each country submits, voluntarily but bindingly, under the Paris Agreement. In them, each government sets out how it will cut its greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

They are the cornerstone of the Paris Agreement: the sum of all NDCs determines whether the world stays within the goal of limiting warming to well below 2 °C, with efforts to keep it under 1.5 °C. Understanding NDCs therefore helps you anticipate where each market's climate regulation is heading.

What an NDC includes

Although every country designs its own, NDCs usually cover two main blocks:

• Mitigation: emission reduction targets, normally expressed as a percentage against a base year or a business-as-usual scenario, and increasingly as an absolute economy-wide emissions cap. These link to national climate change mitigation policies.
• Adaptation: measures to reduce the vulnerability of people, ecosystems and the economy to droughts, floods, heatwaves and other effects.

Many NDCs also distinguish between unconditional targets, which a country commits to with its own resources, and conditional targets, achievable only with international finance and technological support.

The five-year ambition cycle

The Paris Agreement sets up a periodic review mechanism known as the ambition cycle. Every five years, countries must submit a new NDC that represents a progression beyond the previous one and reflects their highest possible ambition. The logic is that commitments can only be strengthened over time, never weakened.

This cycle is fed by the Global Stocktake, a collective assessment of progress carried out every five years whose results inform the next round of NDCs. The round submitted ahead of the COP, with a 2035 horizon, is known as NDC 3.0.

Transparency: the enhanced framework (ETF)

To keep NDCs credible and comparable, the Paris Agreement includes an Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). Under it, countries report regularly on their emission inventories and on progress toward their commitments, following common rules that provide clarity, transparency and understanding. The whole system is coordinated through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The case of Mexico

Mexico is a good example of how NDCs evolve. Its Intersecretarial Commission on Climate Change approved the NDC 3.0 that the country presented at COP30 in Belém. This update introduces, for the first time, an absolute emissions cap covering all gases and sectors with a 2035 horizon, alongside unconditional and conditional targets and a net-zero goal for 2050. Mexico's NDC is structured around mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, an enabling environment and cross-cutting issues, and connects to its domestic legal framework, the General Climate Change Law.

Why NDCs matter to your company

NDCs set the direction of national climate policy and, with it, the regulation that will eventually affect businesses: carbon pricing, reporting obligations, clean energy incentives or value chain requirements. Aligning your decarbonisation strategy early with your country's NDC trajectory reduces regulatory risk and strengthens your position with customers and investors.

Align your climate strategy with Manglai

At Manglai we help you measure your carbon footprint, set targets consistent with national ambition and build an actionable reduction plan. Discover how Manglai can help you turn the regulatory context into a competitive advantage.