Paris Agreement: Council transmits NDC submission on behalf of EU and member states
The Council today transmitted its submission on the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of the EU and its member states to the UNFCCC. The Council approved the submission on 17 December 2020. The submission contains an updated and enhanced target of at least a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990, following the guidance of the European Council given on 11 December 2020.
The EU and its member states are strongly committed to the Paris Agreement and its objectives. Our goal is to become climate neutral in 2050. This NDC submission with updated targets sends a strong signal globally for others to follow the lead. We are facing a climate crisis and to solve it we need everyone on board. With these ambitious targets, other nations can count on the EU to lead this global transition.
Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Germany
NDCs set out the efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. They are an essential part of the obligations to be fulfilled by Parties under the Paris Agreement. The EU submits one NDC on behalf of the EU and its member states.
The submission has been transmitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat to be published in its register of submissions.
Background
Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of these long-term goals. In 2015, 196 Parties came together under the Paris Agreement to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement requests each country to communicate their post-2020 climate actions in their NDCs, in 2020 and every five years after. NDCs set out the efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
