FAO enhances regional support on nationally determined contributions

Months after launching a new help desk to support countries strengthen agriculture and food security commitments in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), FAO is continuing to ensure that governments are adequately prepared for finalizing and submitting the next round of these critical climate plans.

Under the Paris Agreement, NDCs are legally binding commitments that governments must update every five years. Most countries were due to submit the third generation of their NDCs – NDC 3.0 – by February 2025, but few met the deadline. Despite delays, Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has remained upbeat, stating that “progress is not always a straight line... taking a bit more time to ensure these plans are first-rate makes sense”. 

Agriculture – the key to “first-rate” commitments 

To meet adaptation and mitigation targets, agrifood systems – which encompass the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products (including storage, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal and consumption) – will have to play a much greater role in NDC 3.0 than in previous NDCs. Key findings of a global analysis of NDCs by FAO reveal that while agrifood systems are a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, current NDCs address only around 40% of these emissions. Similarly, second-generation plans only cover about one-sixth of the climate finance required to bring about transformative change in agrifood systems – estimated at USD 1.1 trillion annually – meaning there is still a massive funding gap. 

As countries increasingly look for guidance on how to fill this gap, FAO has been enhancing its NDC support through programmes such as SCALA and, since late 2024, through dedicated funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). A key element of this support involves bringing experts to regional dialogues to discuss issues including how to embed agrifood commitments in climate plans and how to enhance capacity of agrifood experts in climate negotiations. The first two of these regional dialogues recently took place in Africa, and Asia and the Pacific, with a third planned for Latin America in April. 

Challenges and shared priorities for effective NDC implementation in Asia and the Pacific 

On 5˗7 March, with the support of FAO and the Mekong Institute, agriculture experts from 16 Asia-Pacific countries, as well key development partners – BMZ, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, NDC Partnership, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), CABI, CGIAR, and ASEAN Climate Resilience Network – gathered in Bangkok to discuss how to advance climate ambition in the agrifood sector. The event provided a platform for countries to exchange knowledge, refine strategies, and drive momentum towards the timely submission of enhanced NDCs. 

Major challenges countries cited included:  

• Lack of coordination and inclusive representation in climate discussions 
• Gaps in knowledge and technical expertise in implementation and monitoring 
• Lack of investment strategies for low-carbon development and low private sector engagement 
• Inconsistencies between national laws/policies and NDCs 
• The need for better integration between NDCs and NAPs.  

Importantly, countries and partners also agreed on priorities for effective NDC finalization and implementation, including strengthening governance, increasing financing, improving monitoring systems, and scaling up climate-smart practices. 

Reflecting on the event, Imelda Bacudo, FAO Climate Finance and Engagement Specialist, said, “From shaping strategies for NDC 3.0 to ensuring that agrifood systems remain central, this gathering of key global, regional and country stakeholders showed what we can achieve when we pool our knowledge, resources and passion.” 

Moving the agrifood agenda forward together 

Summing up FAO’s role in advancing progress on NDC 3.0 and agriculture in climate negotiations, Julia Wolf, FAO Natural Resources Officer and Global Coordinator of the SCALA programme, said: “These dialogues on NDC 3.0 help us understand better what the pain points are for countries in each region, what gaps FAO can help them fill, what potential synergies we can create between multiple development objectives, and which partners can provide the specific expertise countries need. The partnership element is key – only by working together can we achieve the transformation agrifood systems require.” 

FAO’s global analysis on agrifood systems in nationally determined contributions is due out soon (See the key findings here).