In this video, you will learn about the concept of Nationally Determined Contributions – or NDCs. Which are, first of all, about emissions targets.

Key takeaways

• If we aggregate the impact of all current NDCs, we only achieve stabilisation of emissions. It is already a significant achievement, but by far not enough to reach ambitious climate targets.
• Whereas developed countries mostly have absolute emission reduction targets, most developing countries are committed to relative targets.
• The two elements that determine the target are (1) responsibility – countries that have already contributed a lot to historical emissions and made use of that to grow their economies are expected to reduce earlier and faster than other countries. The other is element is (2) need – quite some countries are in an early development phase with low per capita emissions and these countries should be able to grow their economies and contribute to the well-being of their people, and, if needed, temporarily increase their emissions. These are the more fundamental considerations, which are in line with the principle of ‘common-but-differentiated-responsibilities’.