The pace of action on tackling climate change needs to accelerate, however the direction of travel is showing signs of improvement United Nations Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell has said at the launch of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Synthesis Report.
The report, which tracks progress on the national climate plans submitted by governments under the Paris Agreement, was published on 28 October, with Stiell noting that nations are setting climate targets that “differ in pace and scale to any that have come before”.
Such targets have the potential to deliver “real progress” he added, but an acceleration is needed to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C this century.
‘Monumental opportunities’
“The opportunities in climate action are monumental,” Stiell noted. “The rewards for those taking strong climate actions are measured in millions of new jobs and trillions in new investment. As the global shift to clean energy continues to scale, the dividends to follow will be far greater still, as climate action emerges as the economic growth and jobs engine of the 21st century.”
NDCs that have been formally submitted to date (up to 30 September 2025) display a stronger level of commitment and broader coverage than before – a “step-change in terms of quality, credibility and economic breadth”, said Stiell.
Some 89% of countries are taking a whole-of-economy, whole-of-society approach, while 88% said that their NDC was informed by the outcomes of the Global Stocktake (GST), with 81% indicating specifically how this was the case.
Elsewhere, close to three quarters (73%) of new NDCs include adaptation commitments, an indication of the growing importance of adaptation and resilience.
‘Green shoots’
“While we caution against drawing global conclusions from this report, it still contains some green shoots of good news: countries are making progress, and laying out clear stepping stones towards net-zero emissions,” Stiell added.
“We also know that change is not linear and that some countries have a history of overdelivering. We are equally mindful that the data set in today’s report provides quite a limited picture, as the NDCs it synthesises represent around one-third of global emissions.”
Looking ahead to COP30, which takes place in Belém in November, Stiell said countries must demonstrate stronger cooperation, faster implementation, and greater integration between climate action and society.
“We are still in the race, but to ensure a livable planet for all eight billion people today, we must urgently pick up the pace, at COP30 and every year thereafter,” he said. Read more here and here.
