2025 NDCs Synthesis Report highlights momentum toward the climate transition and calls for accelerated global cooperation ahead of COP30
COP President Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago highlights that COP30 needs to respond to climate urgency through accelerated implementation, solidarity and ambitious international cooperation
The UNFCCC Secretariat today released the 2025 Synthesis Report on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), offering the latest snapshot of national climate commitments and progress toward the Paris Agreement goals. The report analyzes 64 new NDCs submitted between 1 January 2024 and 30 September 2025, representing around one-third of global emissions, and underscores growing alignment between national climate action, long-term climate neutrality, and accelerated sustainable development pathways.
According to the report, 89% of Parties now include economy-wide targets, and most link their NDCs to long-term net-zero strategies, typically aiming for neutrality between 2040 and 2060. Collectively, these new NDCs are projected to cut emissions by 17% below 2019 levels by 2035 – evidence of accelerating ambition, though still short of the trajectory needed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
Nearly all countries (98%) reported domestic mitigation measures, and 80% reported actions in at least one of the six low-cost, high-impact mitigation areas identified by the UNFCCC. Among these, afforestation and reforestation, solar energy, and reduced deforestation stand out as areas with both strong potential and the greatest need for support. Three in four Parties (75%) included quantitative targets for global efforts such as tripling renewable energy capacity or scaling up low-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture initiatives.
For COP30 President Designate, André Corrêa do Lago, “The Synthesis report by the secretariat demonstrates that countries now conceive and implement NDCs as development instruments that go well beyond mere targets to cover all dimensions of climate action and ambition – from adaptation and mitigation to finance, technology and capacity-building – in efforts covering the whole-of-government, whole-of-economies and whole-of-society. This report issues one collective mission for COP30: to respond to climate urgency through accelerated implementation, solidarity and ambitious international cooperation, as the collective bridge from Belém to the next policy cycle of the Paris Agreement.”
Ana Toni, COP30 CEO, added: “As President Lula says, COP30 will be the ‘COP of Truth,’ to test our commitment to climate multilateralism and to accelerating the implementation of the Paris Agreement while connecting the regime to people’s real lives. We welcome the enhanced NDCs that respond to the Global Stocktake and urge Parties yet to submit their updated NDCs to do so. This will be critical for making COP30 the stage of a decisive moment in the history of multilateralism.”
Together, their messages frame the 2025 NDC Synthesis Report as both a progress check and rallying call ahead of COP30 in Belém. Ambition is rising, but the global picture is not yet complete – and the months ahead will be decisive for accelerating action and closing remaining gaps.
The report cautions that its findings represent only a partial view, as the 64 NDCs analyzed account for roughly 30% of global emissions. To provide a fuller picture ahead of COP30, the UNFCCC Secretariat also considered additional targets submitted or announced up to publication, including those presented at the "NDC Summit in New York" during the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2025.
Taken together, these inputs, though still incomplete, suggest that global emissions could fall by around 10% by 2035, according to UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, who noted in his statement today that “the direction of travel is improving every year, but we need to urgently pick up the pace.”
Integrating Adaptation, Gender, and Just Transition
The 2025 NDC Synthesis Report also documents notable advances in integrating adaptation, gender equality, and social inclusion into climate planning:
73% of Parties now include adaptation components in their NDCs, most aligned with the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience.
89% reference gender-responsive measures; 95% report engagement of non-Party stakeholders; and 88% include children and youth as agents of change.
70% of Parties explicitly consider just transition principles to ensure the shift to low-carbon, climate-resilient economies are fair and inclusive.
These findings confirm that NDCs are evolving into whole-of-government, whole-of-economy, and whole-of-society instruments, connecting national climate ambition with social equity and sustainable development towards accelerated implementation.
Responding to the Global Stocktake and Expanding Cooperation Under Article 6
The report shows that 88% of countries drew on the first Global Stocktake (GST) to inform their new NDCs – a clear sign of how the GST process is driving higher ambition and coherence across mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation.
Meanwhile, 89% of Parties indicate plans to engage in voluntary cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, through carbon market mechanisms or non-market approaches, signaling growing confidence in international cooperation frameworks to scale up action and finance.
Strengthening International Cooperation and Finance
The report reaffirms that 97% of Parties identify international cooperation as essential for implementing their NDCs, and 75% identify specific financial needs – amounting to nearly USD 2 trillion, with around USD 560 billion required for adaptation. Forests, oceans, and just transition strategies stand out as priority areas for targeted international support.
A Call to Accelerate the Paris Agreement Implementation
A decade after COP21, the Paris Agreement stands as a testament to what unity, science, and shared purpose can achieve. Today, its policy cycle is in full motion – linking the Global Stocktake to a new generation of NDCs and opening a decisive decade of implementation.
The report shows that the Paris Agreement is working. The challenge now is to accelerate delivery across all areas of the Agreement and advance our collective efforts to achieve its purpose and long-term goals. The 2025 NDC Synthesis Report underscores that achieving this vision will require a renewed effort in global cooperation, solidarity, knowledge exchange, and trust.
From Rio to Paris, and from Paris to Belém, we have laid the foundations of a new multilateralism. Now comes the task not only of preventing the gravest risks warned by science, but also of advancing a horizon of ambition, solidarity, and hope to guide us forward. COP30 will be the moment to renew this determination: to choose cooperation over fragmentation, and to change by choice, together.
Access the full report