Frequently Asked Questions

The NDC Partnership works directly with national governments, international institutions, civil society, researchers, and the private sector to fast-track climate and development action. The NDC Partnership works through In-Country Engagement and Global Knowledge Sharing to help countries accelerate climate action through NDC implementation.

The primary purpose of the Partnership is to facilitate and mobilize, rather than as a donor with funds to allocate or projects to implement projects. The Partnership serves as a broad coordination platform for NDCs globally.

The Partnership facilitates collaboration between Member countries and international institutions and development partners to help countries accelerate NDC implementation through in-country engagement and/or knowledge sharing. Through the NDC Partnership, member countries who request support and drive in-country NDC implementation acquire access to a large network of partners that can deliver a flexible array of services geared towards implementation of NDCs — through (a) targeted technical assistance and capacity building; (b) knowledge products to fill information gaps; and (c) enhanced financial support.

The NDC Partnership is a coalition of countries and international institutions and other stakeholders supported by a secretariat, known as the Support Unit. The Partnership maintains a neutral approach in engaging with countries and Development Partners and aims to develop close, functional working relationships.

The NDC Partnership is guided by a Steering Committee comprised of two co-chairs and eight committee members, and three institutional committee members. Co-chairs and committee members are rotated on a two-year basis. Learn more about the NDC Partnership Governance.

The NDC Partnership’s secretariat, the Support Unit, is funded through grants from governments that support the NDC Partnership.

The NDC Partnership Support Unit is co-hosted by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany and the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, DC, USA. Beyond receiving legal, administrative and office support from UNFCCC and WRI, the Partnership does not report to the governing bodies of either organization.

The NDC Partnership ensures the sustainability of its engagement by relying as much as possible on existing structures, institutions, and individual champions. This includes responding to the requests outlined by the government in the Request for Support letter and consulting relevant ministries and other local stakeholders to identify how existing resources can be leveraged with international support. Additionally, the NDC Partnership provides resources as needed for the government to take on the role of facilitator of Partnership Plan implementation.

The Hubs are typically initiatives launched by members of the NDC Partnership as collaborative efforts to provide advisory and technical support in a region to implement NDCs and integrate climate action in development plans. Furthermore, hubs support countries in the region in their review of the implementation of their NDCs and accelerate climate investments.

To learn about how to join the Partnership, please contact us at supportunit@ndcpartnership.org.

The Partnership engages directly with ministries and other stakeholders to assess needs and identify opportunities for collaboration. Members provide coordinated assistance to advance NDC implementation.

Requests for support are communicated through official written communications from country governments in the form of a Request for Support letter. This is then circulated across the NDC Partnership network, with responses consolidated and shared back with the country government.

There are several different approaches to facilitating and implementing Partnership Plans based on a country’s needs and interests. However, a framework is available to guide the facilitation process, with a detailed Terms of Reference for a facilitator available to download here. Member countries will typically take one of three approaches involving different levels of support to the government, with the end aim for the selected government ministry or agency to serve as the facilitator.

Download the current Partnership Plan template.

Implementation is coordinated as part of the facilitator’s role, but the actual implementation is the responsibility of the implementing partners, whether that is government, development partners, civil society, the private sector, or other institutions.  All such implementation takes place using existing systems and processes of the governments and partners.

There are no additional reporting requirements as part of the Partnership Plan process. However, Partnership Plans do include specific outcomes, outputs and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to help countries and international institutions track the progress of the Partnership Plan’s implementation, through the facilitator. The NDC Partnership has developed a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to help track the progress of the NDC Partnership as a whole.

As part of the NDC Partnership’s Country Engagement Strategy, focal points are identified both from the ministry in charge of the country’s NDC coordination and the planning or finance ministry. In addition, it encourages engagement from government at all levels, ensuring that there is buy-in from local to national government as well as across sectors.

The Partnership supports nations in achieving their climate goals by increasing access to knowledge resources and building a peer community around the experiences of countries implementing their NDCs. The Partnership has built and maintains a comprehensive online Knowledge Portal with tools and resources from Member organizations to aid in NDC implementation. Additionally, the Partnership supports peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges and knowledge.

The NDC Partnership is uniquely placed to gather insights directly from countries and institutions on their NDC implementation and then capture and share relevant lessons and success stories. This is knowledge is shared through the NDC Partnership’s Knowledge Portal; the development of case studies; the convening of peer-to-peer exchanges among member countries; and through the NDC Partnership’s annual 'Partnership in Action' report.

The NDC Partnership’s Knowledge Portal empowers countries to accelerate climate action and take on more ambitious goals by ensuring they have The Knowledge Portal includes the following tools to support countries:

The NDC Partnership’s Knowledge & Learning work has two main roles. The first is to increase country capacity by enabling easy access to climate knowledge, tools, data, and capacity-building resources of Partnership Members and beyond. Through the NDC Partnership Knowledge Portal, users gain quick and easy access to relevant data, tools and knowledge.

The second is to draw out and share lessons and successes generated through the Partnership’s Country Engagement work to support and inspire accelerated, replicated, and scaled-up climate action within and beyond the Partnership’s membership. This can be achieved through peer-to-peer exchanges or capacity building convenings, as well as in-depth case studies on country or thematic examples of best practices.

The members of the NDC Partnership provide their resources to countries directly in response to needs identified in Partnership Plans and Request for Support letters.

In most countries around the world, the majority of finance needed for low carbon development will come from the private sector. In response to the needs expressed in Partnership Plans and Requests for Support, the members of the Partnership support governments in undertaking initiatives to develop a strong enabling environment to shift the flows of private finance and to identify how to use public funds in a catalytic manner. The private sector and providers of private finance can also join the Partnership as Associate Members.

The NDC Partnership does not charge a fee for any of its services.