This Fall, many countries updated their NDCs and buckled down on climate commitments in
preparation for the COP 27. Similarly to most Conferences of the Parties, COP 27, which took
place from the 6th to the 20th of November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, resulted in important
climate conversations but a lack of bold declarations from higher emitting countries. In a few
weeks, more international conversations will be held at the Biodiversity COP15 in Montreal
which will demonstrate which countries and groups are taking holistic approaches to climate
change. While COP27 failed to result in an official agreement for biodiversity, efforts may be
more successful in Montreal in a few weeks. On the other hand, some nature based solutions
were included in the final text from COP27, demonstrating international interest in thinking
beyond solely limiting carbon emissions.

Of the fifteen countries that have updated their NDCs this Fall, the United Kingdom, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Mexico are most impactful as high-emitters. While the UK did not increase its
carbon reduction commitment, the country did submit an updated NDC that reinforced the
validity of the 68% reduction compared with 1990 levels and further explained plans to reach
this goal. The updated NDC also hinted at a Methane Memorandum by 2027. This renewed
focus on methane is a common theme among the many updated NDCs.

Similarly, Mexico’s recent NDC mentions a global need to reduce methane emissions by 30%
by 2030, though it failed to commit to Mexico’s own contribution to that goal. The NDC did
significantly increase Mexico’s commitment to overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,
increasing the commitment from 22% to 35% by 2030 compared with a base scenario (likely
business-as-usual). Additionally, Mexico claims that it will be able to reduce emissions by 40%
by 2030 only with international financial support. This is a noticeable improvement from the
country’s original NDCs which did not align Mexico with the Paris Agreement’s goals.
Thailand has increased its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030
compared with a BAU scenario using 2005 as the base year. This was coupled with a 40%
conditional reduction commitment. The country also included in writing its commitment to carbon
neutrality by 2050 that it had announced at last year’s COP26. Thailand further clarified that it
would reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2065. As a more developing country, this is
a significant update. Furthermore, the NDC announced that Thailand was successful in reducing
emissions by 15.4% in 2020. This bodes well for the country completing, if not surpassings, its
unconditional commitment.

In other exciting news, at COP27 UK and other countries committed to financing a $20billion
project to help transition Indonesia to clean energy. This will make Indonesia’s new conditional
scenario, a 43.20% reduction by 2030 as outlined in their September 2022 NDC, increasingly
possible. Before this financial commitment, Indonesia had already increased its unconditional
NDC to a 31.89% reduction by 2030. However, the country maintains the year 2060 as the goal
for carbon neutrality.

Other countries that updated their NDCs this season include Uganda, United Arab Emirates,
Sudan, Micronesia, Equatorial Guinea, Norway, Singapore, Bahamas, Andorra, Viet Nam, and
Timor-Leste.