Country commitments and ambitions

Country ownership and a country-driven approach are core principles of GCF. One of our operational priorities is to ensure that the we are responsive to the needs and priorities of developing countries.

Every country in the world is impacted by climate change. The Paris Agreement shows that countries are ready to work together in response. But the targets, priorities, and responses need to be determined by each country. GCF has built this principle of country ownership into all its activities to ensure that climate solutions are implemented according to priorities set by the countries themselves

Nationally Determined Contributions

Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, are the expressions of efforts to be made by countries in reducing national emissions and adapt to the impact of climate change. (NDCs) are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of these long-term goals. NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Paris Agreement requires each party to outline and communicate the NDCs that it intends to achieve. The UNFCCC receives and records NDCs in a public registry.

Guided by the principle of country ownership, GCF investments support developing countries’ own aspirations for low-emission, climate-resilient development, in order to help attain their NDC objectives.

National Adaptation Plans

National Adaptation Plans, or NAPs, identify a country's medium- and long-term climate adaptation needs, as well as strategies and programmes that need to be developed and implemented to address those needs. The development of NAPs is a continuous, progressive and iterative process, following a country-driven, participatory and transparent approach. These planning processes are intended to catalyse action and finance to generate systemic change that addresses climate impacts and vulnerabilities.

Taking effective climate action requires countries to work out what kinds of adaptation measures will be effective. That is why the proper planning and formulation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and/or other planning processes are so important, and why GCF fully support these efforts.

Our support for adaptation planning is designed to be country-driven, evidence-based and gender-sensitive. GCF assistance for adaptation planning is provided through its Readiness Programme, which provides financial resources to help developing countries access GCF and other climate finance sources.

Country programmes

Country programmes lie at the centre of the programming exercise. Country programmes present an overview of a country’s national context, policy framework and plans, such as the NDCs, NAPs, and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), and summarise their respective climate action agendas. They also include a pipeline of projects or programmes that the country would like to undertake with GCF. The country programmes have been developed based on initial drafts of templates prepared by the Secretariat including elements from the initial general guidelines for country programmes.