Transparency vital in NDCs execution of climate action

The past few weeks have witnessed important United Nations meetings on climate change and sustainable development ahead of the new deadline for countries to submit their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Only a handful of countries had published the NDCs – updated plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 adopted in the 2015 Paris Agreement – ahead of the earlier largely symbolic February 10 deadline.
UN Climate Change Executive Director Simon Stiell, announcing the new September deadline, shortly after, described the plans as among the most important policy documents governments will produce this century, arguing that “their quality should be the paramount consideration”.
NDCs are plans that countries create to outline how they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.
NDCs help African countries align their climate action with national development goals.
They also help attract public, private, and blended finance to implement climate action and build resilience to climate change and natural disasters.
The UN climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, in late June, was followed early this month by the Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) in Sevilla, Spain.
Reports from these key meetings will be presented to decision-makers on Wednesday at the UN’s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York.
As the dust settles on these meetings, one question continues to shape global climate discourse: How can countries ensure that the next generation of climate commitments is not only more ambitious but also credible, actionable, and effective?
Robust frameworks
The question has acquired an increasing sense of urgency, ahead of the September deadline for the submission of the third round of the NDCs (also known as NDC 3.0) and the UN climate summit (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. As of the earlier February deadline, only 13 of the 195 Parties to the Paris Agreement had communicated their updated NDCs.
Fatigue is setting in. Some countries are reluctant to push forward, questioning the priority of a new NDC.
So, where did the momentum begin to wane, and how can it be revived?
The UN Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) recognises that as countries prepare for NDC 3.0, the need for robust transparency frameworks is greater than ever.
ICAT helps countries to use transparency for effective climate action implementation in sector-specific monitoring, reporting and verification systems, policy impact assessments, NDC tracking, climate finance tracking, and monitoring of just transitions.
Challenges to the implementation of NDCs exist on the ground. For many developing countries, turning climate pledges into tangible results remains a major hurdle.
The obstacles are numerous—deeply interconnected, spanning technical, financial, institutional, and socio-political dimensions, according to ICAT.
Key challenges include limited access to climate finance. Many countries struggle to mobilise or access the international finance required to implement their NDCs, particularly for adaptation, which receives far less funding than mitigation.
Then there’s weak domestic resource mobilisation. This stems from the limited engagement of key national stakeholders—including financial institutions, private sector actors, and line ministries—resulting in the exclusion or underrepresentation of critical sectors (transport, agriculture and energy) in climate financing and planning processes.
Capacity and technical expertise gaps have also been identified.
Limited availability of skilled personnel, tools, and institutional knowledge hampers countries’ ability to effectively plan, implement, and monitor climate actions.
Additionally, high poverty rates, inequality, and competing development priorities can deprioritise climate action, especially in contexts where immediate economic survival takes precedence.
Data and information constraints resulting in weak analysis of emissions projections and vulnerability, coupled with inadequate policy evaluation and decision-making, undermine both national planning and international reporting.
Another challenge is fragmented governance and weak institutional coordination. Coherence and coordination are made worse by the failure to mainstream climate action into the sectoral development strategies.
Political and policy instability caused by shifting political priorities or frequent changes in leadership can disrupt long-term planning and continuity in climate programmes.
Many countries have limited access to technology and innovation. They lack the technologies needed to drive low-carbon transitions or adapt to climate impacts, particularly in energy, agriculture, and infrastructure.
Climate transparency
Vulnerability to climate impacts is another challenge in implementing NDCs. High exposure to extreme weather, rising seas, and other climate risks diverts resources and attention toward disaster response and recovery, making long-term planning difficult and diverting resources that might have been used for adaptation.
These overlapping challenges can erode trust, slow implementation and limit the effectiveness of climate policies.
Addressing them requires not only stronger national systems, but also sustained international cooperation, predictable finance and knowledge-sharing.
Against this backdrop, therefore, climate transparency offers a practical and strategic framework to help address many of these barriers.
Transparency is considered the backbone of climate action.
While transparency alone cannot solve deeply rooted barriers, it is essential for addressing them.
By enabling countries to track finance flows, monitor policy implementation and effectiveness, coordinate across institutions and demonstrate accountability, transparency strengthens the foundations for effective climate action.
Transparency is no longer just a technical obligation; it is the bedrock of credibility, ambition, and delivery.
With the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement now operational, countries have new tools to assess priorities, plan action, track progress, spot gaps, and adjust course over time.
Furthermore, a transparent climate action framework allows countries to plan policies and actions based on sound data and projections, track progress on mitigation and adaptation efforts and learn and improve through data-driven insights and evaluation.
Transparent climate action also helps countries to establish stronger reporting mechanisms, develop global trust, facilitate access to climate finance, and foster inclusive stakeholder engagement and whole–of–government coordination.
Transparency, therefore, enhances policy coherence, strengthens institutions, and lowers the cost of implementation, making it indispensable for results-driven, evidence-based climate action, according to ICAT
For NDC 3.0 to succeed, countries must move beyond aspirational targets.
The next round of climate plans should be results-based, attractive for investors, and aligned with national development agendas.
This requires, among others, setting concrete actions aligned with emissions reduction and resilience goals, and establishing measurable outcomes to ensure accountability.
It also requires designing and implementing effective policies and measures that operationalise NDC goals, ensuring they are coherent, cost-effective, and capable of delivering results at scale.
Building robust monitoring and tracking systems to support evaluation, adjustments, and reporting processes for policies and measures, and demonstrating policy effectiveness through reliable data and analysis, is essential.
Countries need to link climate finance to clearly defined outcomes and integrate the tracking into the budgetary processes, ensuring institutional coherence across sectors and governance levels, and aligning with broader economic and social development priorities, leaving no one behind.
Transparency strengthens each of these elements–anchoring ambition in evidence and enhancing credibility with investors, partners and the public.
ICAT’s role in transparency in climate action has made an impact in Cuba, Ghana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Tajikistan and Vietnam, showing how transparency works.
When properly implemented, transparency can empower decision-makers with the data and tools needed to scale what works.
By turning data into decisions and reporting into results, transparency ensures that climate commitments move from paper to progress.