Partnership in Action 2020: Foreword by the NDC Partnership Co-Chairs

We knew that 2020 would be important, but we can hardly have imagined just how much. This year we take stock of our progress in sustainable development and seek to raise climate ambition as countries revise their NDCs. Yet it is now something even more momentous. The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects call us to reimagine our world, starting from the resilience and inclusiveness of our societies to the economic basis for our future prosperity, while redoubling our efforts to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

For the NDC Partnership, too, this is an important moment. At the end of this year the Partnership completes its first Work Program. As the Co-Chairs of the Partnership over the past two years, we look back on this period with pride. From its launch in December 2016, we have grown from 43 to more than 180 member countries and institutions. The Partnership is supporting more than 70 countries around the world in implementing their NDCs and raising ambition.

More importantly, we have firmly established a new model of working together. The Partnership puts countries in control of their own climate action by supporting them to mobilize their governments and societies behind a shared plan. These plans—transparent and country-owned—enable dozens of international partners to offer financial support and expertise to countries while avoiding duplication.

The flexibility of this approach has enabled us to adapt to new developments. In just the past two years, the Partnership has implemented the Climate Action Enhancement Package to support 65 countries in enhancing their NDCs; adopted strategies for gender equality, youth engagement and major emerging economies; and launched a major initiative to support countries in aligning their post-COVID recovery with climate action.

Much more remains to be done. Global mitigation efforts leave us far short of the Paris temperature goals. Climate finance is still short of the USD100 billion per year target, and far below the levels needed to build a genuinely climate-safe future. Even as we need to accelerate our action, COVID-19 and its economic aftermath threaten to make political attention and financial capital harder to get.

But the Partnership’s experience and contributions gives us hope. We see countries willing to lead. International partners are responding with commitment and flexibility, and mobilizing finance where countries need it. And visions are emerging of how to rebuild our economies in ways that combine inclusive development with a safer climate. This report shares some of the successes and insights that have come from this experience.

We hand over the Co-Chair role at the end of this year with pride at all the Partnership has achieved so far, but determined to work towards even greater impact in the years to come.

This foreword is by our Co-Chairs: Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, the Netherlands and Andrea Meza Murillo, Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica.