The briefing note about Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) is the first briefing note of an AfDB-Climate Change series heading to COP21.
INDCs are the primary means for governments to communicate how they will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change challenges in their own countries. These pledges are expected to form the basis of a post-2020 climate agreement. In practical terms, the mitigation elements of INDCs are commitments from all countries towards to the agreed objective of limiting average surface temperature increase to 2°C. Voluntary in nature, they can become binding in case of a successful agreement in or after Paris. 196 countries were requested to submit their INDCs before the end of March 2015 with the absolute deadline of end October 2015. To date, only 56 countries submitted their contributions including seven African countries: Benin, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya and Morocco. Overall, those contributions represent almost of 60% of global emissions.
The African Development Bank strongly believes in the potential significance of INDCs to support green and climate resilient development pathways on the continent. Gareth Phillips, AfDB Chief Climate and Green Growth Officer, said, "AfDB is one of the largest climate finance contributor of Africa. The INDCs will be a great help to better identify potential investments and leverage more climate finance."
