Climate Action for Today and Tomorrow: The Relationship between NDCs and LTSs

The document argues that while NDCs (short-to-medium term commitments) and LTSs (mid-century visions) serve different legal and functional roles, they should be developed synergistically. Aligning them prevents the 'lock-in' of carbon-intensive infrastructure and reduces administrative costs by sharing data, modeling, and stakeholder consultations. The authors suggest that ideally, an LTS should inform the NDC, though they provide options for countries developing both in parallel or those updating NDCs without a formal LTS.

• NDCs and LTSs differ significantly in their planning horizons, legal requirements, and accountability. NDCs operate on approximately 10-15 year horizons and are mandatory under the Paris Agreement with established reporting and accounting requirements. In contrast, LTSs focus on a roughly 30-year horizon, are voluntary, and lack specified UNFCCC accounting or reporting mandates.
• Aligning NDCs and LTSs prevents the risk of investing in technologies or infrastructure that could hinder the achievement of mid-century goals. Coordinated planning ensures that short-term actions do not create a trajectory that makes long-term zero-emissions and resilience goals impossible to meet.
• Countries can achieve administrative and economic efficiencies by integrating the governance of both processes. This includes using the same lead institution, coordination committees, and stakeholder engagement processes for both NDC enhancement and LTS development.
• To ensure mutual coherence, NDCs and LTSs should be based on a common set of underlying data and modeling scenarios. The document recommends that countries updating NDCs without an LTS should extend their modeling to mid-century to avoid locking out future alignment with Paris Agreement goals.
• The ideal sequencing is for a country to establish an LTS first to provide a long-term vision that informs the 2030 milestones in the NDC. However, because most countries developed NDCs first, those currently updating them should work backwards from aspirational long-term goals to set near-term targets.
• Political instability and lobbying can undermine climate policy durability. The document cites the UK's use of an independent Climate Change Committee and Mexico's use of legislation to protect long-term targets as examples of attempts to shield climate goals from political shifts.

APA

World Resources Institute (2019). Climate Action for Today and Tomorrow: The Relationship between NDCs and LTSs. https://www.wri.org/insights/climate-action-today-and-tomorrow-relationship-between-ndcs-and-ltss

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Climate Action for Today and Tomorrow: The Relationship between NDCs and LTSs. 2019. https://www.wri.org/insights/climate-action-today-and-tomorrow-relationship-between-ndcs-and-ltss.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Climate Action for Today and Tomorrow: The Relationship between NDCs and LTSs |date=19 September 2019 |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/climate-action-today-and-tomorrow-relationship-between-ndcs-and-ltss |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2019climate, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Climate Action for Today and Tomorrow: The Relationship between NDCs and LTSs}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://www.wri.org/insights/climate-action-today-and-tomorrow-relationship-between-ndcs-and-ltss}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }