Powering climate action together
Our impact
The Global NDC Conference is an international forum dedicated to discussing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), leading ambitious climate policy and action. Each edition of the Global NDC Conference has reflected the priorities and deepening understanding of how best to achieve the Paris Agreement’s objectives.
Since its first edition in 2017, the Global NDC Conference has:
- Opened an inspiring space for dialogue, learning, and cooperation for the international climate community.
- Inspired and empowered participants to gain new knowledge, tools, and perspectives on NDC development, ambition, and implementation.
- Contributed to enhancing the understanding, alignment and coordination between governments and non-state actors, focusing on complementarity.
Facts & figures of the Global NDC Conference
Our numbers since 2017*:
Our role
The Global NDC Conference is a trusted, action-oriented platform. Every two years, we bring together policymakers, climate experts, leaders, and innovators from around the world involved in the development and implementation of NDCs.
Here are some examples of how we support the international climate community:
At the heart of the Global NDC Conference is a simple principle: climate action moves faster when knowledge is shared openly. Each edition has been a place where practical stories meet new ideas, where lessons in one country inspire solutions in another.
Pacifica Achieng Ogola
Directorate of Climate Change, State Department of Environment, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Kenya
Ambition only matters if it is implemented, and this is where the Global NDC Conference plays a crucial role. The conference offers a trusted, informal space for governments, practitioners, and support partners to sit down together and talk about how to make things work on the ground.
Participants share the hurdles they face and discover they are not alone. Issues like institutional capacity, lack of coordination, or limited access to climate finance are discussed openly. This exchange builds confidence and helps identify practical ways forward.
Jan Sindt
Head of Implementation Strategies, Climate Analytics
The Global NDC Conference thrives on diversity. Policymakers, city and regional leaders, youth and indigenous voices, researchers, businesses, and civil society all come together in one place. Such a mix is what makes the conversations so rich.
Because the conference is not about climate negotiations, people can speak frankly, share doubts, and test new ideas. The result is genuine dialogue across groups that rarely meet in everyday work, without the pressure of achieving consensus.
Natalie Jones
Policy Advisor, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
The Global NDC Conference is more than just a meeting. It is a launchpad. By showcasing bold examples and fresh ideas, it gives participants the energy and confidence to raise the bar back home.
The conference also functions as a bridge between international climate negotiations, finance, and real-world practice. This helps ensure that global ambition and donor priorities are informed by practical realities, while at the same time giving practitioners a sense that their efforts matter in shaping the bigger picture.
Ziaul Haque
Department of Environment, Bangladesh
One of the most distinctive features of the Global NDC Conference is its commitment to inclusivity, highlighting the perspectives of those who are affected. By bringing youth, Indigenous Peoples and underrepresented voices into direct dialogue with decision-makers, the conference amplifies angles often overlooked in policy spaces.
Thuane Nascimento
Director of PerifaConnection (Brazil) and youth representative at the conference
In their own words: What our participants are saying
Where ideas turn into change
Success stories
The impact of the Global NDC Conference is best illustrated through the stories and examples that emerge from its community. Across editions, the conference has left tangible traces in the way participants learn, collaborate, and act on climate commitments. The following cases highlight how the conference has made a difference.
Case clinic “Democratising access to climate finance”
We spoke to Anchal Gautam, a youth representative from India, who led a case clinic on access to climate finance. When she arrived at the conference, she carried with her an idea she had been shaping for months regarding ways to democratise access to climate finance at the grassroots. The case clinic she participated in offered exactly the space she needed: an intimate, co-creative, and personalised environment for learning and problem solving.
Anchal Gautam
Youth representative from India
Strengthening youth leadership across Africa
For Kelvin Muli, Founder and CEO of the African Network for Climate Action (ANFCA) from Kenya, the Global NDC Conference became a turning point in how he approaches climate action in Kenya and across Africa. Coming from a region where climate impacts are intensifying each year, Kelvin arrived in Berlin seeking practical tools and stronger networks to bridge the persistent gap between climate ambition and on-the-ground implementation. What he found was a community eager to share solutions and a platform designed for exactly that.
Kelvin Muli
Founder and CEO of the African Network for Climate Action (ANFCA), Kenya