NAP & NDC
Aligning NAP and NDC for coherent Climate Adaptation Action
Aligning NAP and NDC for coherent Climate Adaptation Action
Aligning NAP and NDC for coherent Climate Adaptation Action
Nationally determined contributions (NDC) communicate a country’s contribution to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are a process through which countries, particularly those under the UNFCCC, prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change. These plans aim to reduce vulnerability to climate change and integrate climate adaptation into national policies and development programs. NDCs and NAPs are often used as complementary processes to strengthen national climate change adaptation.
The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process is a country-driven process where national governments analyze current and future climate risks and deliberate with stakeholders how the risks can be addressed. The process provides a basis for countries to identify and prioritize medium-and long-term adaptation options and to implement them through respective strategies. Established in 2010 by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as part of the Cancún Adaptation Framework, the NAP process complements the existing short-term national adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs) by providing a systematic approach to plan for adaptation at the national level. The NAP process can include the formulation of a document (the NAP document), but as a process it also includes stakeholder engagement, ongoing policy coordination and capacity building. The NAP process is mentioned in the Paris Agreement as a means for all countries, while its initial Technical Guidelines from 2012 were designed especially for least developed countries (LDCs). In 2025, the updated NAP technical guidelines were published, which are aligned with latest climate science COP decisions, and the Global Goal on Adaptation.
The term ‘national adaptation planning’ is often used synonymously to the term ‘NAP process’.
A general overview of NAPs is provided by this FAQ section of the NAP Global Network. The current status of the formulation and implementation of NAPs is presented in a UNFCCC report from 2024.
For further information on the NAP process, refer to the UNFCCCs NAP portal and the support platform NAP Central.
The NAP process is meant to reduce vulnerability, build adaptive capacity and mainstream adaptation to climate change into general and sector-specific development planning processes, including tracking of progress. It can be used to coordinate adaptation planning and actions across ministries and other government and non-government stakeholders and to facilitate implementation of adaptation actions towards climate resilient development.
In 2012, the UNFCCC Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) published the NAP Technical Guidelines, outlining the key steps involved in the process. A range of supplementary materials offer a more in-depth coverage of specific steps of the NAP process. In 2025, the LEG published its updated NAP technical guidelines, which are aligned with latest IPCC science, COP decisions, and the Global Goal on Adaptation.
Within its NAP support, GIZ is closely collaborating with different actors, such as NAP Global Network (NAP GN) and the NAP Global Support Programme (NAP-GSP). Both support developing countries, and in the case of NAP GSP especially LDCs to advance their NAP processes.
In this context, important tools for the NAP process are:
Parties to the UNFCCC agreed to submit intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) in the run-up to the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris. Those INDCs outlined Parties’ intended contributions towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Several countries also included adaptation in their contributions.
Unless countries chose to amend their INDCs prior to ratifying the Paris Agreement, these documents became their first nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
The Paris Agreement requires countries to submit new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years, reflecting progressively higher ambition and taking into account each country’s capacity. The new round of NDCs, due in early 2025, will outline countries’ climate actions through 2035 and take into account the Global Stocktake.
According to Climate Watch, 179 countries have submitted a new or updated NDC until December 2024. 151 NDCs of all the INDCs and NDC updates submitted so far include adaptation (December 2024).
According to Article 7.9 of the Paris Agreement, all Parties shall, as appropriate, engage in adaptation planning processes.
Further, they should periodically report an adaptation communication to the UNFCCC secretariat, as part of or alongside other documents, such as a NAP, NDC and/or national communication. In countries where adaptation is included in the NDC, it should be aligned with the NAP process to avoid duplication and ensure coherent implementation. Whereas the NDC is a country’s pledge and may outline adaptation goals (the ‘what’), the NAP process is a domestic planning process that can set out ‘how’ NDC adaptation goals can be implemented.
The following graphic illustrates how NAPs and NDCs are interlinked.
Overview of steps involved in developing a NAP and how these relate to the production of NDCs, adaptation communications and progress reporting in BTRs. Source: UNFCCC 2024
Aligning the information contained in NAPs with NDCs, and adaptation communications emphasizes the importance of coherence among these instruments to enhance climate resilience. Such alignment can improve the effectiveness of adaptation actions, streamline reporting processes, and facilitate access to climate finance. By integrating the detailed planning of NAPs with the strategic vision of NDCs and the communicative function of adaptation communications, countries can present a unified approach to adaptation that aligns with their development goals and respective international commitments. This synergy can lead to more improved efficiency and coordination, better resource allocation, and comprehensive approach to climate change.
Aligning the NAP process with the adaptation elements in the NDC can accelerate enhanced adaptation action:
The alignment of these two policy processes thus has important implications for national climate change policy governance and coordination. It enables streamlining of a country’s transparency framework and can support the preparation of adaptation-related reporting to the UNFCCC. The global stocktake of the Paris Agreement (GST) will also allow for greater synergy between the two processes. The aim of the GST is to assess the world’s collective progress towards achieving the agreement’s purpose and long-term goals. This assessment also refers to the effort in the adaptation sector and will provide a better understanding of the state of adaptation polices, thus strengthening the inclusion of NAPs in NDCs.
Beyond that, a better alignment can also promote general coherence with the Sustainable Development Goals and other agendas, such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Convention on Biological Diversity. However, for truly ambitious climate action, it remains crucial to take a holistic approach, explicitly acknowledging the interlinkages between adaptation and mitigation, which are supported by the alignment of NDC and NAP processes and the consideration of further agendas.
For information on the inclusion of adaptation in NDCs, see here.
More information on the NAP process is also available under Mainstreaming adaptation, at NAP Global Network and at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). Further information on NDCs can be found at the NDC Partnership.
This alignment brief provides a useful overview of NDC and NAP alignment.
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