Countries Collaborate on Climate Investment Strategies at NDC Clinics
In a significant step towards global climate action, nations from diverse regions have come together to share their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) strategies at specialized clinics. These clinics, co-organized by the United Nations Climate Change body, its Regional Collaboration Centers, and partners, have played a pivotal role in enhancing climate investment planning and execution.
The workshops facilitated by these clinics have empowered governments to identify investment gaps, set priorities, and design financing strategies aligned with their national climate commitments. They also fostered collaboration among officials from key ministries, financial institutions, and the private sector, enabling the exchange of valuable lessons and best practices.
The first NDC Clinic of the year took place during Climate Week 2025 in Panama, attracting 135 participants from 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. This regional perspective-focused event showcased best practices from the region and explored how global experiences can be adapted to enhance local climate action.
Subsequent Climate Weeks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, hosted two additional NDC Clinics: one for Anglophone and Lusophone countries and another for Francophone nations. These events brought together 103 representatives from 53 countries, engaging in presentations, case studies, and table discussions. Following these, the NDC Clinic for Asia and the Pacific took place in Bangkok, Thailand, further expanding the global reach of these collaborative efforts.
The NDC Clinics served as a platform for in-depth dialogue on investment planning and mobilization, covering the entire NDC implementation process. They were structured into four thematic segments, each spanning two days: institutional/governance arrangements for enabling NDC finance, prioritizing investment needs, financial mechanisms and bankable pipeline development, and a mapping exercise to identify key priorities and opportunities for implementation.
The final reports of each NDC Clinic are available on their respective event pages, offering detailed insights and recommendations. The clinics identified several challenges and barriers to NDC implementation, including fragmented institutional coordination, capacity constraints in ministries and subnational authorities, data gaps, finance bottlenecks, weak private sector engagement, policy and governance instability, and dependence on external project preparation facilities.
To overcome these challenges, the clinics proposed several pathways for implementation, drawing on country experiences. These include high-level political leadership, the development of new investment frameworks and planning tools, integrated coordination to streamline processes, innovative financing approaches, private sector engagement in pipeline development, South-South cooperation, sustainable capacity building, and community-level initiatives.
The development of an implementation strategy was also emphasized, focusing on establishing high-level and integrated climate governance, creating cross-sectoral coordination platforms, developing and operationalizing investment frameworks, mobilizing diverse and innovative financing sources, building long-term institutional and technical capacity, and scaling up local and inclusive climate action.
The remarkable participation in the NDC Clinics underscores a global commitment to accelerating climate action and translating ambitious goals into tangible outcomes. As governments refine their investment strategies and strengthen institutional arrangements, implementing partners are collaborating closely with countries to plan and mobilize finance, fostering stronger collaboration between climate and finance ministries. This collective momentum will be further harnessed at COP30, where world leaders and stakeholders will gather to present new national climate action plans, discuss finance pledges, and accelerate NDC implementation on a global scale.
