Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are national policy instruments that communicate countries’ domestic climate commitments to the international community, report progress towards these commitments and outline support that is needed to ensure effective implementation. NDCs are required to be updated every five years to ensure increasing ambition and alignment with the latest climate science. The NDC revision process allows countries to reflect internally and draw on the experiences of others, both in the region and globally. Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries are at different stages in this process. Of the 16 Member States, 11 were able to submit their revised NDCs to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in advance of the UNFCCC’s twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26) in November 2021. This policy briefing seeks to promote the uptake of key lessons from NDC revision processes for the SADC region, with good practice examples drawn from both within and beyond the region. Recognising that NDCs must be reflective of national priorities and circumstances, these revision processes can support development objectives by unpacking and analysing key elements of other countries’ NDCs – both in content and process – as the basis for engagement and dialogue between regional climate policy stakeholders.
