UN Climate Change News, 27 October 2026 - Three reports published by UN Climate Change show governments increasingly taking whole-of-economy, whole-of-society approaches to climate policy-making. However, the reports again show overall progress remains substantially insufficient, and highlight key barriers to further acceleration and implementation of national targets and pledges.
UN Climate Change is mandated to produce the three reports - the NDC Synthesis Report, the BTR Synthesis Report and the NAPs Progress Report - ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference - or Conference of the Parties (COP). This year, COP31 will be held in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9-20 November.
COP31 will be an important opportunity to make progress through negotiations on a range of practical issues which can support greater implementation.
In parallel to negotiations, the Global Climate Action Agenda will present opportunities to boost electrification, improve access to finance, and reduce waste and the impacts of the super-pollutant methane.
Statement from UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell
"These reports show more governments are taking climate action right across their economies, to bank the vast benefits of clean energy and climate resilience. In this respect, these reports are more evidence that almost every major economy - and many medium-sized and smaller economies - now see climate action as a central driver of economic growth, jobs, and affordable and secure energy.
While the reports are another reminder of the difficult headwinds of this moment, they also show nations standing firm and pushing ahead. This makes total sense, as climate impacts hit every population and every economy harder each year. Because climate action means safer communities, more competitive economies, and lower costs for households, governments and businesses, especially amid the ongoing fossil fuel cost crisis.
However, this year's reports demonstrate again that collective progress remains clearly insufficient, that global transitions are very uneven, and that many countries face substantial barriers to delivering their targets and pledges.
With its focus on practical measures to support greater implementation, COP31 in Türkiye can help address some of the key gaps highlighted in this year's reports. In both the negotiations, including through ambitious outcomes on mitigation, adaptation, climate finance and just transitions, and in parallel, through delivering solutions under the Global Climate Action Agenda. Boosting electrification, curbing methane emissions and progressing towards zero waste are all important steps in the right direction
By building the support, agreements, and partnerships needed to help convert more pledges into real-world results, COP31 can also bring the vast benefits of climate resilience and cheap, secure clean energy to more people around the world."
2026 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Synthesis Report
The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Synthesis Report provides further evidence of how countries are turning their Paris Agreement commitments into concrete actions and progress, by providing new data about progress being made and the major challenges that remain.
Between 1 January 2024 and 31 August 2026, 127 new NDCs, representing 154 Parties to the Paris Agreement, were recorded in the NDC registry. Together, they cover around 70 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The report shows that NDCs are more comprehensive than ever before. Increasingly they contain the full range of building blocks of the Paris Agreement - from mitigation and adaptation, to finance, technology transfer, capacity-building, loss and damage, response measures and just transition.
This new generation of NDCs shows how climate action is becoming more deeply embedded across economies and societies. Increasingly, NDCs involve local and regional authorities, civil society, and the private sector in planning, implementing and monitoring climate action. Reflecting this growing whole-of-society approach, 98 per cent of Parties report engaging a number of these stakeholders in implementing their NDCs, up from 70 per cent in previous NDCs.
Ninety per cent of Parties say the findings and commitments of the first global stocktake of climate action informed their NDCs. Sixty-five per cent of the Parties highlighted the contribution of clean energy to energy security.
While the report shows Parties making significant progress towards Paris Agreement goals, particularly in terms of mainstreaming climate policy making, it also shows projected greenhouse gas emissions reductions substantially off-track, compared to the reductions required by science. Current pledges are expected to reduce global emissions by around 6 per cent by 2035 below 2019 levels. With full implementation of all current pledges, 2035 emissions could be reduced by around 9.0 per cent, which again underscores the importance of cooperation and support, as well as steps to support greater implementation, by governments working in closer coordination with leaders across the business, all sectors and all parts of society.
2026 National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Progress Report
The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Progress Report marks a shift from tracking the formulation of NAPs towards assessing their implementation.
As of 20 October 2026, 146 countries had initiated and launched the NAP process. While a total of 81 developing countries, including 29 LDCs and 17 SIDS, have submitted their NAPs, significant barriers remain, particularly in accessing finance.
The report highlights the gap between countries having adaptation plans and being able to put them into practice. Challenges identified are not only in developing project proposals, but also in turning them into approved projects and ensuring that approved funding reaches countries that need it most.
This year's report also identifies a limited number of accredited entities and challenges in advancing funding proposals through the approval process. Approval does not equal access to finance, as long processing times and delays in the delivery of funds are factors impeding countries from translating approved projects into actions that drive delivery on the ground.
2026 Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) Synthesis Report
The Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) Synthesis Report summarizes progress in implementing nationally determined contributions during the reporting period of the first round of BTRs (2020-2022). The report shows climate policymaking increasingly mainstreamed in many countries. Policies and actions to implement NDCs increasingly cover whole economies and involve all or many segments of society. For example, 80 per cent of Parties involve non-Party stakeholders in climate action. Ninety-two per cent of Parties link climate action to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Since last year's inaugural BTR Synthesis Report, over 30 new BTRs have been submitted, taking the total number of Parties who have now submitted to 137. BTRs now cover some 85 per cent of global emissions. Between 2020 and 2022, 60 Parties (representing about 66 per cent of global emissions in 2020) made progress against their NDC targets.
This year's BTR Synthesis report shows adaptation emerging as a central focus in countries' BTRs. Although providing such information is not mandatory, 92 per cent of Parties have included an adaptation component in their BTRs.
Climate finance report updates
Two new reports from the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF), a constituted body under the UN climate process, assess progress in mobilizing climate finance and the challenges of ensuring it reaches developing countries and supports effective climate action.
The Third Report on Progress Towards Achieving the USD 100 Billion Goal examines progress towards the collective commitment by developed countries to mobilize USD 100 billion annually to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation action and transparency. Estimates show substantial growth in financial support. The report finds that climate finance provided and mobilized by developed countries to developing countries increased between 2020 and 2024 according to all sources of information, while noting that one source found that the goal was met in 2022, 2023 and 2024. This suggests that measures taken to increase public finance and the mobilization of private finance have been more effective than in previous periods.
The report also highlights differences in how progress is measured, alongside persistent challenges around access, affordability, and meeting developing countries' needs.
The Seventh Biennial Assessment and Overview of Climate Finance Flows analyses global public and private climate finance including flows from developed to developing countries. It finds that global climate finance increased by 32 per cent to an annual average of USD 1.9 trillion in 2023-2024, alongside improvements in reporting. Yet disparities remain in terms of where investment flows, with continued barriers for developing countries and shortfalls in adaptation finance. The assessment underscores the need to scale up investment, improve access and affordability, and better align finance with countries' climate priorities and the Paris Agreement.
Previewing: Yearbook of Global Climate Action 2026
UN Climate Change will soon publish the Yearbook of Global Climate Action 2026, an annual report highlighting progress and gaps in climate action and showcasing concrete initiatives by non-Party stakeholders.
The Yearbook will present the latest data on global indicators aligned with the outcomes of the first global stocktake, and snapshots of climate action - particularly by businesses in key sectors, sub-national governments (such as cities, states or regions), and others.
The Yearbook will be launched at the start of COP 31, which is expected to have a strong focus on driving real-economy progress through the Global Climate Action Agenda, in parallel with - and complementary to - progress needed through formal negotiations, also with strong potential to help support greater implementation of targets and pledges.
The 2026 edition of the Yearbook - developed by UN Climate Change with a leading role by the Climate High-Level Champions - draws on a record number of progress reports collected through the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA), with more than 80 Cooperative Climate Initiatives reporting more than 200 actions.
