Designing and Preparing Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)

This guide by the World Resources Institute provides technical and process-related instructions for countries preparing their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) for the post-2020 period, following requests from countries during Regional Technical Dialogues convened by the UNDP and UNFCCC in 2014-2015.

• The guide outlines a five-step process for practitioners to follow when preparing and designing INDCs: identifying benefits, organizing the process, identifying necessary data and analysis, designing the contribution, and communicating it.
• INDCs serve as the primary mechanism for governments to communicate their international emissions reduction efforts for the post-2020 period, allowing countries to customize contributions based on their specific national priorities, capabilities, responsibilities, and emissions profiles.
• The document was developed in response to requests for detailed guidance from countries that participated in Regional Technical Dialogues on INDCs held in 2014-2015, which were convened by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The UNFCCC has established a goal to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels to prevent catastrophic future impacts, driven by the fact that human activities like land-use change and fossil fuel burning have caused greenhouse gas concentrations to reach levels higher than at any point in the last 800,000 years.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Designing and Preparing Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). https://www.wri.org/research/designing-and-preparing-intended-nationally-determined-contributions-indcs

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Designing and Preparing Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/designing-and-preparing-intended-nationally-determined-contributions-indcs.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Designing and Preparing Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) |url=https://www.wri.org/research/designing-and-preparing-intended-nationally-determined-contributions-indcs |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutenddesigning, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Designing and Preparing Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/designing-and-preparing-intended-nationally-determined-contributions-indcs}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }