UN Launches Climate Promise: Forward to Accelerate NDC Delivery

The United Nations is expanding its climate support through Climate Promise: Forward, a system-wide framework designed to help countries move from setting Nationally Determined Contributions to implementing them. Twenty-five UN entities and partners will support longer-term NDC delivery through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, building on Climate Promise 2025, which involved around 30 UN entities and supported 107 countries in preparing new climate plans. The programme will focus on policy, finance, practical solutions and national engagement, while linking climate implementation more closely with development priorities.

 

The Focus Is Moving From Climate Targets to Delivery

 

Countries have strengthened their NDCs, but turning those commitments into projects, finance and infrastructure remains a larger challenge. Climate Promise: Forward is designed to bring different parts of the UN system together around implementation rather than creating another stand-alone climate programme.

The framework is jointly coordinated by the UN Development Coordination Office and UNDP and is built around four areas: policy, finance, solutions and engagement. The aim is to help governments strengthen institutions, prepare investable projects, scale proven approaches and build wider participation around climate plans.

 

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Climate Action Is Being Linked More Closely to Development

 

The programme is based on the idea that climate implementation can also advance jobs, energy security, food systems, water access and resilience. Instead of treating emissions reduction and development as separate agendas, the UN wants countries to design climate investments so they deliver wider economic and social benefits at the same time.

That approach is already visible in several UN-backed projects. In Moldova, an energy vulnerability fund supported 719,000 households during the 2024–2025 heating season, while in Suriname a joint programme has worked with 21 Indigenous and tribal villages to prepare bankable renewable energy proposals.

 

Existing Projects Show How Climate Finance Can Scale

 

Indonesia provides one of the clearest examples of the financing model Climate Promise: Forward is trying to expand. A UN-supported programme backed with less than $10 million from the Joint SDG Fund helped play a role in mobilizing more than $5.7 billion through thematic bonds, including Green Sukuk, SDG Bonds and a sovereign Blue Bond.

Green Sukuk proceeds have contributed to an estimated 2.8 million tonnes of CO₂ reductions through energy efficiency and sustainable transport. Six commercial banks with combined assets of $136 billion have also committed to developing sustainable finance frameworks, showing how relatively small amounts of catalytic support can influence much larger pools of capital.

 

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Resilience Is Becoming Part of NDC Implementation

 

The programme also puts greater emphasis on adaptation and resilience. In Nepal, NDC 3.0 includes early-warning systems and measures to reduce risks from glacial lake outburst floods, priorities made more urgent by severe flooding that recently affected communities and infrastructure.

UNDP and the World Food Programme have also supported the rehabilitation of 13 micro-hydro plants supplying 5,537 households in Nepal. The same projects connect clean energy with irrigation, food production and rural incomes, showing how climate investment can address several development needs at once.

 

The Test Will Be Whether Countries Can Turn NDCs Into Investment Pipelines

 

The challenge for Climate Promise: Forward will be whether closer coordination across the UN system produces faster implementation on the ground. The framework is intended to connect governments with development banks, climate funds, private investors, civil society and technical partners rather than leaving countries to navigate those systems separately.

Its success will ultimately depend on whether countries can turn climate plans into projects that are financed, built and measured. Moving from 107 countries preparing NDCs to sustained implementation across energy, resilience, food, water and infrastructure will be the real test of whether the UN can close the gap between climate ambition and delivery.

 

Source: UN Development Programme