Implications of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 degrees for scaling up Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement

The document argues that current NDCs are insufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C and calls for transformative systemic change across all sectors. It provides a framework for governments to conduct national gap analyses, align their short-term plans with long-term global requirements, and implement disruptive innovations and governance reforms. Key recommendations include the urgent withdrawal of financial support for fossil fuels and the integration of climate-resilient planning into mainstream development and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) strategies.

• Limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires a level of transformative systemic change across energy, land, urban, and industrial systems that has no documented historical precedent in terms of geographical and economic scale.
• Achieving a 1.5°C-compatible pathway is impossible without the urgent withdrawal of financial and fiscal support for the fossil fuel economy, including the reduction of subsidies and the abandonment of most plans to expand fossil fuel extraction.
• Governments should use the generic global baseline from SR15 to perform national gap analyses, back-casting from long-term requirements to current NDC horizons to identify policy, capacity, and legal gaps.
• Scaling up ambition requires strengthening governance and institutional capacity at all levels, including the integration of climate objectives into planning, budgeting, and monitoring, and the engagement of non-state actors like cities and businesses.
• To support 1.5°C pathways, governments must align R&D and financial support exclusively toward technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adopt 'mission-driven' innovation policies.

APA

Newell, P., & Phylipsen, D. (2018). Implications of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 degrees for scaling up Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P2933_CS_Newell_Phylipsen_PRINT.pdf

Chicago

Newell, Peter, and Dian Phylipsen. Implications of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 degrees for scaling up Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Climate Strategies, 2018. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P2933_CS_Newell_Phylipsen_PRINT.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Newell |first1=Peter |last2=Phylipsen |first2=Dian |title=Implications of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 degrees for scaling up Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=2018 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P2933_CS_Newell_Phylipsen_PRINT.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newell2018implications, author = {Newell, Peter and Phylipsen, Dian}, title = {{Implications of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 degrees for scaling up Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2018}, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P2933_CS_Newell_Phylipsen_PRINT.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }