Quality criteria for integrating health into Nationally Determined Contributions (‎NDCs)‎

Overview

This document seeks to guide policy-makers, ministry of health staff, and staff of other government departments leading and contributing to NDCs to integrate health in their countries’ NDCs. It aims to support the health sector to understand the international and national climate plan processes, plans and terminology and the key entry points for health.

The document provides an overview of the structure, quality criteria for health integration, examples, and useful resources for the main components of NDCs: leadership and enabling environment; national circumstances and policy priorities; mitigation; adaptation; loss and damage; finance; and implementation.

The aim of the document is to provide overarching guidance to national governments to raise the quality and ambition of NDCs, which can be adapted and modified according to the local context and priorities. The quality criteria are not intended to be prescriptive. The overall objective of promoting healthy NDCs is to address the health impacts of climate change, support climate-resilient and low-carbon sustainable health systems, and identify and maximize the health-related co-benefits of climate policies and plans across all relevant sectors.