Vanuatu’s Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0 to the Paris Agreement
Greater ambition and enhanced action for a critical decade
2025-2035
The public, domestic and international are welcome to provide feedback on Vanuatu’s third iteration of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement before it is finalised and submitted to the UNFCCC in September 2025. Send feedback to
Vanuatu’s NDC 3.0:
- meets all obligations as outlined in Paris Agreement Articles 4.2 and 4.11 and COP Decision 1/CP.21 paragraph 23, for enhanced ambition for the period of 2025-2035
- includes 204 measurable and time bound commitments: 33 on mitigation, 126 on adaptation and 45 on loss & damage
- sets an economy wide quantitative emissions reduction goal of 1,608.57 kt CO₂ eq by 2035
- aligns with the Global Stocktake outcome goals of phasing down fossil fuels to limit warming to 1.5C, tripling renewable energy, doubling energy efficiency and doubling adaptation finance
- is fully costed at 334,981,463,850 VUV ( 2,768,441,850 USD) with a 19.48% share to mitigation, 39.43% to adaptation and 41.08% to loss and damage.
- serves as an investment framework with a comprehensive analysis of the key sources of finance and preferred financial instruments for each grouping of commitments
- articulates key gaps and constraints to implementation, and assesses progress in meeting each target and commitment
- establishes a Country Platform for coherent, complementary and well coordinated climate finance and programming based on the NDC
Vanuatu’s NDC 3.0 is informed by the priorities voiced by our people, their communities, elected representatives, the public service, the private sector and civil society, with our nation’s commitments to maintain its current net-negative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions society (Article 4.1) whilst being resilient to the unavoidable impacts of climate change (Article 7.1), averting, minimising, and addressing loss and damage (Article 8) in the context of the long-term temperature goal (Article 2), while articulating our financial needs (Article 9) that shall be provided by developed country Parties in continuation of their existing obligations under the UNFCCC.
Vanuatu’s NDC 3.0 represents our whole of society effort to implement the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Vanuatu’s own National Sustainable Development (The People’s Plan 2030), which charts the country's vision and overarching policy framework to achieving a stable, sustainable and prosperous future.
All commitments outlined in Vanuatu’s NDC 3.0 are based on existing sector and subnational policies, plans and strategies, ensuring that the NDC 3.0 is fully embedded within existing national development and governance systems and mechanisms.
Vanuatu’s NDC 3.0 has been guided by human rights obligations, principles, and standards in its preparation and content, and will continue in this approach throughout its implementation.
This NDC 3.0 sets ambition levels according to the best available peer reviewed science and international law to keep warming below 1.5°C. Importantly, the Vanuatu NDC 3.0 prioritises adaptation support for all vulnerable sectors, communities, households and individuals, and through the stand alone loss and damage commitments, commits to seeking redress for all affected by the climate crisis.
Importantly, the NDC 3.0 forms a core part of the National Climate Finance Country Platform, which aims to mobilise and coordinate climate finance at the scale and speed required to meet Vanuatu’s self-determined climate goals. Given the investment framework nature of this NDC 3.0, the Country Platform enables the streamlining of diverse finance sources—public and private, international and domestic—toward the implementation of Vanuatu’s highest and nationally determined priorities.
To meet the urgent need to course correct in this critical decade, Vanuatu’s NDC 3.0 fully adheres to the outcomes of the Global Stocktake which found that current climate actions are inadequate to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Vanuatu’s tangible targets and commitments facilitate the just transition away from fossil fuels, the tripling of renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency globally among many other ambitious priorities.