NDC Explorer

Description

Methods

All data is collected and coded manually from the INDCs and NDCs. The database builds on earlier databases by DIE and the UNFCCC secretariat. With a few exceptions, every subcategory is independent. The country groupings are based on World Bank data on per capita income and the World Bank regions. The original databases of DIE and the UNFCCC secretariat were tested and occasionally improved based on samples. New data is collected by trained analysts, and checked by peers and the project leader. Mistakes pointed out by users are constantly corrected.

The UNFCCC guidance for INDC formulation (see decision 1/CP.20, § 10-17) was very limited and unclear. (I)NDCs thus vary greatly in terms of structure, content, scope, level of detail, and metrics used. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to fit all (I)NDCs under one subcategory with exclusive legend items (countries can only fall under one legend item). Wherever possible, we added legend items for (I)NDCs who provided more details. For example, we demarcate mitigation as 'focus areas' when (I)NDCs 1) explicitly highlights and/or prioritises this sector; 2) and/or underlines the sector's mitigation potential among other sectors; 3) and/or prioritises investments in this sector. Furthermore, we therefore added country-specific information in many subcategories. The team aimed to be as factual as possible and to avoid interpretations of (I)NDCs. This meant we sometimes had to exclude countries from certain legend items if they did not refer to certain concepts explicitly (such as REDD+ or SDGs and their expansions), but only described related issues or plans instead. The same accounts for sectors (e.g. derivatives of 'agriculture' or 'transport'). In other cases, we identified information in particular sections, such as 'planning process' or 'fairness and ambition'. We focused on the (I)NDC contributions until 2030. The NDC Explorer is solely based on information communicated by Parties to the UNFCCC in their (I)NDCs. The regional and income-level country groups are based on the World Bank Country Groups. Additional groups are available in the raw data only. 

Starting in November 2021, the NDC Explorer will be successively updated with the Parties' new and updated NDCs. If the Parties did not submit an English version of their NDCs, a translation was used from Climate Watch or translated by the project team using Deepl. As of November 2021 the following subcategories have been updated for new and updated NDCs submitted up to early August 2021: "Global division by income", "Type of targets", "Limiting global temperature increase", "Costs of mitigation/investment needs", "Reducing non-CO2 gases", "International market mechanisms", "Human mobility" (prior migration and displacement), "Costs of recent climate-related hazards (currency US$)", "Costs of future climate-related hazards (currency US$)", "Climate risks: extreme weather", "Climate risks: floods", "Climate risks: droughts", "Slow onset process: temperature increase" (prior climate risk), "Slow onset process: sea level rise" (prior climate risk), "Costs of adaptation/investment needs", "Conditionality of adaptation finance", "Conditionality of mitigation finance", "Conditionality of technology transfer", "Conditionality of capacity building", "Means of Implementation and fairness/equity", "Climate risk insurance" and "Fossil fuel subsidy reform". Moreover, the scope of analysis has been expanded. Thus, the following subcategories have been added: "Article 2.1", "Government tools on finance: Financial policies and regulations", "Government tools on finance: Fiscal policy levers", "Government tools on finance: Public finance", "Government tools on finance: Information instruments", "Private sector investments", "Other slow onset processes" and "Base year". In case a subcategory is classified with "no data", the category is not updated yet. Regarding the international market mechanisms updates, the subcategory's classifications/legend were modified such that data previously logged under (I)NDCs may be subject to changes. Moreover, the scope of analysis has been expanded. Thus, the following subcategories have been added: Article 2.1, Government tools on finance: Financial policies and regulations, Government tools on finance: Fiscal policy levers, Government tools on finance: Public finance, Government tools on finance: Information instruments, Private sector investments, Other slow onset processes and Base year. In case a subcategory is classified with no data, the category is not updated yet. UK has been added as a new country to all data sets. In INDC and First NDC data sets, UK shows the values of European Union.

Other

The NDC Explorer is a contribution to the NDC Partnership Knowledge Portal and financed within Klimalog project by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with additional financial contributions by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Swedish Research Council Formas.