Most parties, including the EU, missed the February deadline to submit new climate plans, and pressure is mounting as the UN climate summit approaches.
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The UN has urged countries to submit their already late national climate plans this month.
Known as Nationally Determined Contributions, these national blueprints are required under the Paris Agreement and were due this year. They should outline how each country is expecting to cut emissions by 2035.
In a letter to nearly 200 countries, UN climate chief Simon Stiell urged countries to submit their plans "as soon as possible".
Most countries missed the deadline in February this year, and six months later, many major polluters have yet to submit their updates. This includes the EU, which has delayed its submission due to negotiations around the bloc's 2040 climate target, which will likely shape its plan.
Countries, including France and Poland, have called for delays in approving the legally binding 2040 goal. This week, France demanded that negotiations on the target be escalated to national leaders rather than being decided by climate ministers, which could further stall a deal.
The UN has asked countries to submit their NDCs during September so that their efforts can be assessed before the COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November.
Countries urged to submit climate plans 'as soon as possible'
"These national climate plans are much more than words on paper; they are among this century’s most powerful engines of economic growth and rising living standards, and the cornerstone of humanity's fight against the global climate crisis," Stiell wrote in a letter.
The UN climate chief commended those nations that have already submitted their NDCS, saying that those with strong new plans were "on their way to securing the biggest share of the clean energy boom".
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is supposed to conduct its new review of commitments in a report that needs to be ready by COP30.
Plans that are submitted by the end of September will make it into this "important update", Stiell wrote. He encouraged world leaders to use the UN General Assembly on 24 September in New York as a platform to announce their new policies.
