1. RYAN O’CONNOR, RESEARCH ANALYST, WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE
LEVERAGING NDCS TO ADVANCE
CAPACITY FOR NATIONAL
ADAPTATION PLANNING
March 29, 2023

2. • Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs):The State of Play for Adaptation
o Global context
o Inclusion of adaptation and development process
o Integration of gender equity
o Scope of priority actions
o Implementation and monitoring
• Aligning with other Instruments:Adaptation Communications and National
Adaptation Plans
o Linkages with adaptation communications
o Alignment with national adaptation plans
• Climate Watch:A Tool for Supporting NDC Knowledge and Capacity
Presentation Outline

3. Nationally Determined Contributions
(NDCs): The State of Play for Adaptation

4. • IPCC’s 2023 AR6 Report finds a
growing gap for adaptation action
• Current efforts remain too small-scale,
fragmented, incremental, and focused
on near-term climate impacts to build
systemic resilience
• Adaptation fully voluntary in NDCs,
limited guidance for its inclusion
• WRI’s State of NDCs: 2022 Report
examines adaptation components of
167 current NDCs, comparing content
with initial submission round
Global Context

5. • Majority (144) of current
NDCs include an adaptation
component
• Increasingly describe NDC
development process,
planning and coordination
for adaptation
• Understanding institutional
arrangements, coordinating
entity, and stakeholder
consultations helpful for
alignment with NAP
Inclusion of Adaptation and Development Process

6. • On paper, references to gender considerations significantly increased in current NDCs
• Need to ensure NDC gender approach aligned with considerations in NAP process
Improved Integration of Gender Equity

7. • 4,641 priority adaptation actions
communicated in current NDCs;
almost double that from initial NDCs
• High variance in specificity & scope
across priority actions
• Most prioritized sectors and systems:
Food and nutrition security, water, and
nature-based solutions
• Strong need for improved capacity
building
More Detailed Actions
“Capacity building and
knowledge transfer”

8. • Of all adaptation actions, 39% include a time frame and 13% include targets and
indicators. 62 current NDCs describe finance requirements for adaptation.
Gaps in Implementation and Monitoring

9. • Fewer than half (57) of current NDCs describe adaptation monitoring, evaluation,
and learning (MEL) approaches; only minor increase from initial NDCs
Gaps in Implementation and Monitoring

10. Aligning with other Instruments:
Adaptation Communications and
National Adaptation Plans

11. • NDCs serve as one potential vehicle for
documenting adaptation communications
• 16 of 38 countries (42%) analyzed designate
adaptation communication as current NDC
• Decision 9/CMA.1 as key guidance document
• “The guidance for adcoms in decision 9/CMA.1 is
relevant to preparing adcoms and adaptation
components of NDCs. No other guidance currently
exists for this purpose. Therefore, the guidance in
decision 9/CMA.1 can be understood as having a
double function: it guides (1) adcoms in general and
(2) adaptation components of NDCs specifically.”
–Adaptation Committee (AC), 2022
Linking NDCs with Adaptation Communications

12. • References to NAPs
more than doubled in
updated NDCs
• NAPs as a key driver of
adaptation in NDCs due
to more comprehensive
scope
• Context dependent:
NDCs can strategically
highlight country’s NAP,
or inform start of the
NAP process
Greater NDC Alignment with NAPs
Case Study: Fiji’s NAP (2018) comprehensively synthesized
existing strategies for adaptation, development, and long-
term planning. The goal of the updated NDC (2020) was to
increase international visibility for adaptation and the NAP,
and draws from the NAP document for priority actions.

13. Climate Watch: A Tool for Supporting
NDC Knowledge and Capacity

14. • “ClimateWatch is an open data platform that
brings together dozens of datasets to let users
easily search, analyze and compare countries’
climate progress and commitments under the
Paris Agreement. Users can use the platform to
access the latest historical greenhouse gas
emissions data, track net-zero targets and explore
nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and
long-term strategies to reduce GHG emissions.”
–wri.org
• Adaptation NDC analysis dataset recently
added to platform
• Access on www.climatewatchdata.org
What is Climate Watch?

15. Global Visualization of NDC Adaptation Content

16. Region and Country Filters for Refined Analysis

17. Country NDC Pages offer Detailed Analysis

18. THANK YOU