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

This briefing by the World Resources Institute examines the relationship between Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Long-Term Strategies (LTSs) under the Paris Agreement. It argues that aligning these two planning tools—one focused on short-to-medium term commitments (typically 10-15 years) and the other on mid-century visions (approximately 30 years)—is essential to avoid locking in carbon-intensive infrastructure and to ensure efficient use of government resources.

• NDCs and LTSs serve distinct but complementary functions: NDCs are mandatory commitments focused on implementation and international accountability over a 10-15 year horizon, while LTSs are voluntary, visionary documents planning for a zero-carbon future by 2050.
• Aligning the development of NDCs and LTSs prevents the 'lock-in' of non-resilient or carbon-intensive technology and infrastructure, which reduces long-term costs by ensuring near-term investments are compatible with 2050 goals.
• Government officials can increase efficiency by synchronizing the governance, data collection, and modeling processes for both documents, rather than treating them as separate exercises.
• The ideal sequencing is for a country to establish its LTS first to create a long-term vision that informs the targets and milestones of the NDC; however, most countries have developed NDCs first due to the timing of the Paris Agreement negotiations.
• Political instability and lobbying can undermine climate policy durability. Some countries have attempted to mitigate this by using independent advisory bodies or enshrining targets in legislation.
• Target setting should be path-dependent, meaning NDC targets must be achievable via the same development pathway as the LTS. While NDCs are often conservative due to accountability, LTSs allow for more aspirational goals.

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} }