As the main anchors of national climate planning and policies, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) determine the course of climate action and ambition under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Historically, NDCs have shown considerable variation in their scope, length, and content. However, a common theme in assessments of NDCs is the significant implementation gap between the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement and the actual policy commitments and means of implementation. As countries work to ratchet up ambition for the next set of NDCs — expected to be submitted by 2025 and outline countries’ next decade of climate action — it is critical that policy-makers dramatically scale up ambition and scope of NDCs, and critically, ensure processes for engagement in outlining these plans that are inclusive, equitable, and which work to deliver a gender just transition at national level.

This resource offers a framework for policy-makers towards the development of NDCs that center gender justice, with key questions for consideration across six key areas: 

1) Process, 

2) Principles, 

3) Ambition, 

4) Data, 

5) Coherence, and 

6) Accountability.