Stronger NDCs With Cities, States, and Regions: Recommendations for National Governments

This guide by the World Resources Institute provides recommendations for national governments to enhance the ambition and credibility of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by collaborating with and integrating content from subnational governments, such as cities, states, and regions.

• National governments can increase the ambition of their NDCs and align more closely with the Paris Agreement by adopting a collaborative approach with subnational governments. This integration is intended to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 2025 NDC deadline and serve as a tool for all future NDCs.
• The document proposes eight recommendations across three stages to help national governments strengthen NDCs. These include reviewing current multilevel partnerships and subnational content, planning for collaboration through a collective vision and stakeholder engagement, and integrating subnational data, targets, and policies into the NDCs to incentivize joint implementation.
• Collaboration between different levels of government is critical because cities account for over 80 percent of global gross domestic product and more than 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. While national governments manage policy levers like efficiency standards and building codes, subnational entities are the primary responders to climate impacts.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Stronger NDCs With Cities, States, and Regions: Recommendations for National Governments. https://www.wri.org/research/stronger-ndcs-cities-states-regions-recommendations-national-governments

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Stronger NDCs With Cities, States, and Regions: Recommendations for National Governments. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/stronger-ndcs-cities-states-regions-recommendations-national-governments.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Stronger NDCs With Cities, States, and Regions: Recommendations for National Governments |url=https://www.wri.org/research/stronger-ndcs-cities-states-regions-recommendations-national-governments |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendstronger, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Stronger NDCs With Cities, States, and Regions: Recommendations for National Governments}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/stronger-ndcs-cities-states-regions-recommendations-national-governments}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }