The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat has launched a web-based portal for submissions by parties to the UNFCCC of their intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs).
The Secretariat will prepare a report on the aggregate effect of INDCs communicated via the portal a month in advance of the Paris Climate Change Conference, scheduled to take place in December 2015.
22 January 2015: The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat has launched a web-based portal for submissions by parties to the UNFCCC of their intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs). The Secretariat will prepare a report on the aggregate effect of INDCs communicated via the portal a month in advance of the Paris Climate Change Conference, scheduled to take place in December 2015.
The launch of the INDCs website comes in response to a call by the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the UNFCCC requesting the Secretariat to publish on the UNFCCC website countries’ INDCs as communicated. COP 20 invited parties to communicate their INDCs well in advance of COP 21, and “by the first quarter of 2015 by those parties ready to do so,” in a manner that facilitates their clarity, transparency and understanding. In the “Lima call for climate action,” COP 20 further requests the Secretariat to prepare, by 1 November 2015, a synthesis report on the aggregate effect of INDCs communicated by 1 October 2015.
The portal includes links to: submitted INDCs; an INDC Submission Portal for authorized users; and documents providing guidance on the preparation of INDCs. The documents submitted by parties will be publicly available in their original form via the portal.
According to the UNFCCC, INDCs will provide information on countries’ “strategic efforts to combat climate change through actions tailored to [their] own national circumstances” and on, inter alia: calculation methods; scope and time frames; and considerations of fairness and ambition of the INDCs in light of national circumstances.
Commenting on the crucial role of INDCs, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres affirmed that “the UNFCCC is ready to accept the INDCs as part of the next steps towards a new universal agreement on climate change in Paris in 2015.”
The Paris Climate Change Conference, or COP 21, will take place in Paris, France, from 30 November to 11 December 2015. [UNFCCC Press Release] [INDCs Portal]