GLAND, Switzerland (28 October 2025): A major UN climate report has warned that current global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have failed to close the ambition and implementation gaps, despite evidence of progress in some areas.  

The UN’s latest NDC Synthesis report finds that current national climate plans, if fully implemented, could result in emissions dropping by less than one third of what is needed to avert dangerous climate change by 2035.  The expected reduction of 19-24% below 2019 levels is a long way from the 60% decline required by 2035 to limit global warming to the Paris Agreement threshold of 1.5°C to avoid the most severe climate change impacts.  

Ahead of COP30, WWF is calling for a global response plan that can put the world on a 1.5°C pathway with the minimum overshoot possible, addressing energy, methane emissions, forests, heavy industry and ensure a just transition. The Brazilian Presidency will need to steer countries towards such a response to reinforce multilateralism and global efforts to reduce emissions under the climate regime. 

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF Global Climate and Energy Lead, said: “In the decade since the Paris Agreement was approved, there has been some progress in the right direction, but efforts so far are falling short. The 1.5°C threshold of the Paris Agreement is a legal, moral and scientific guardrail crucial to avoiding the most devastating risks to people and nature. 

“It is vital that we collectively act to stop pushing our planet to the brink. The science is clear, and tried and tested solutions are available now for use across every sector. What we are missing is the political will to scale up, speed up and finance solutions. COP30 must be where we see momentum pick up to secure a liveable planet for generations to come.” 

The report is based on the 64 national climate action plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that were submitted by countries by the 30 September 2025 deadline. This only represents around one-third of global emissions and excludes targets from major G20 economies.  WWF urges the remaining parties to urgently deliver 1.5°C-aligned national plans before COP30. 

Shirley Matheson, WWF Global NDC Enhancement Coordinator, said: “While countries are making genuine progress, the gap between words and action remains dangerously wide. It is particularly disappointing that, instead of setting the pace, major G20 economies still haven’t submitted their targets with less than a fortnight to go before COP30 begins.  

“At COP30, the G20 must stop hesitating and start delivering. It’s time to turn the slow jog into a sprint by supercharging a clean and fair energy transition. This means increasing the share of renewable energy while phasing out fossil fuels, mobilising climate finance and ending deforestation and the wider destruction of nature. The world can’t afford delay disguised as diplomacy.” 

Despite the gaps remaining on ambition and delivery, WWF is encouraged by the report’s finding that more countries have included a broader range of forest-related measures. Countries must build on this at COP30 and provide the next steps on their existing commitment to conserve, protect, and restore nature and ecosystems, including through halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.    

ENDS  

Notes to Editors: 

The NDC Synthesis Report is released by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and assesses the collective impact of countries’ national climate plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (or NDCs). 

You can find full details of the outcomes WWF wants to see in Belém in WWF’s COP30 Expectations Paper which is available here 

CONTACT  

WWF International climate comms team: cop30-comms@wwfint.org