Climate action has gained momentum over the past decade, driving real economic opportunities. However, current efforts are not keeping pace with rising risks. Our planet is dangerously close to crossing the 1.5˚C temperature guardrail, and current actions are not far or fast enough to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. Countries remain reluctant to scale up their climate actions and ambitions, fearing harm to their economies. This jeopardises the future of both our planet and its people.
Climate action is losing momentum, while accelerating it is needed to secure prosperity. Mounting economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and rising public debts are shifting priorities and straining government budgets, particularly for climate. While new and more ambitious climate plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), were due by February 2025, only 19 countries had submitted updated NDCs by that date. Any slowdown in climate action risks delaying much-needed investments, weakening economic resilience and increasing climate damages. The cost of insufficient action is clear: it could threaten future development, economic stability and long-term prosperity.
As nations prepare their next round of climate commitments with their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), now is the opportunity to change this trajectory.
New OECD-UNDP analysis provides evidence that higher climate ambition is not only achievable, it also makes economic sense, even in the near term. The 2025 NDC cycle is an opportunity to build collaborative approaches around climate, development and growth priorities, broaden and strengthen ownership of development-enhancing mitigation strategies, and inform effective investment plans and strategies to mobilise public and private sources of finance to deliver action.
