SYNTHESIS BRIEF

This synthesis brief details the Stockholm Environment Institute's (SEI) efforts to support the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Key areas of focus include the need to phase down fossil fuel production, the creation of a transparent reporting framework, and the importance of equitable mitigation shares, noting that wealthy nations like the US and EU are currently falling short. The brief highlights specific case studies in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa, and introduces tools such as LEAP and the NDC Explorer to help countries plan and track their climate goals.

• Fossil fuel production and consumption must be phased down to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius. While countries like China have banned new coal mines and Costa Rica has banned petroleum exploration and extraction until 2021, fossil fuel supply is generally not a central focus in NDCs. India is noted as the only top ten fossil-fuel-producing country whose NDC mentions a policy to restrict supply via a coal tax.
• The "enhanced transparency framework" under Article 13 of the Paris Agreement is hindered by a lack of detailed guidance on NDC features, which makes the process of reporting and reviewing challenging because intended NDCs are largely heterogeneous. SEI recommends that Parties develop further guidance and that the UNFCCC Secretariat prepare a technical report on lessons from existing transparency processes.
• To preserve the integrity of international market mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, robust accounting is necessary to prevent "double counting" of GHG emission reductions. Regarding the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), researchers suggest limiting the eligibility of certified emission reductions (CERs) to new projects that are additional or existing projects at risk of discontinuing abatement.
• Wealthier industrialized countries are not meeting their "fair share" of mitigation efforts required to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. For example, the United States pledges at most 24% of its fair-share contribution, and the European Union pledges 23%. These countries will need to cooperate to achieve mitigation in other countries to meet their fair-share efforts.
• Kenya's target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 requires a low-carbon energy development pathway, which necessitates extensive financial investment and strong energy sector governance. Success depends on early stakeholder engagement and the implementation of transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms.
• In sub-Saharan Africa, the private sector is an increasingly important actor for financing agricultural adaptation. Analysis of 39 publicly funded projects shows that public finance is used to raise awareness, hire private actors for services, or leverage private investment. To scale this, policy-makers should clarify the types of private actors they seek and identify commercial opportunities across the entire value chain, including harvest and commercialization stages.
• SEI provides several tools to support NDC development and tracking: LEAP (used by over 20 countries for clean energy and mitigation planning), LEAP-IBC (a benefits calculator for human health impacts), the NDC Explorer (a database for analyzing ambitions and priorities), and the NDC-SDG Connections tool (which links NDCs to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals).
• Analysis via the NDC Explorer indicates that while many countries set targets for renewable energy, very few (as few as 4) include agriculture as a priority area. Additionally, poorer countries tend to focus more on adaptation and often make mitigation targets conditional on international support.

APA

Yehle, E., Klein, R. J., Atteridge, A., Barrott, J., Broekhoff, D., De Lorenzo, L., Dzebo, A., Johnson, F. X., Kartha, S., Piggot, G., Pravalprukskul, P., Salamanca, A., Schneider, L., Swartling, Å. G., van Asselt, H., & Verkuijl, C. (2017). SYNTHESIS BRIEF. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-SB-2017-analysis-and-tools-for-NDCs.pdf

Chicago

Yehle, Emily, Richard J.T. Klein, Aaron Atteridge, Julia Barrott, Derik Broekhoff, Luca De Lorenzo, Adis Dzebo, et al. SYNTHESIS BRIEF. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-SB-2017-analysis-and-tools-for-NDCs.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{yehle2017synthesis, author = {Yehle, Emily and Klein, Richard J.T. and Atteridge, Aaron and Barrott, Julia and Broekhoff, Derik and De Lorenzo, Luca and Dzebo, Adis and Johnson, Francis X. and Kartha, Sivan and Piggot, Georgia and Pravalprukskul, Pin and Salamanca, Albert and Schneider, Lambert and Swartling, Åsa Gerger and van Asselt, Harro and Verkuijl, Cleo}, title = {{SYNTHESIS BRIEF}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-SB-2017-analysis-and-tools-for-NDCs.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }