Kingdom of Eswatini - Update of the Nationally Determined Contributions.

The Government of Eswatini submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015 and ratified the Paris Agreement on 21st September 2016. Post enforcement of the Paris Agreement in November 2016, Eswatini’s INDC came to be known as its first NDC. Eswatini is not a major contributor to the global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Although the impacts of climate change are largely linked to the historical and contemporary industrial development of other nations, like most countries in the Global South, the country is disproportionately impacted by the changing climate. Under these circumstances Eswatini presents its enhanced NDC, acknowledging that despite our contribution to climate change emissions being miniscule, the country is committed to climate action. The country intends to communicate that climate resilient, sustainable, and equitable development are its priorities.
The enhanced NDC of Eswatini comes at an opportune moment as the country is developing a new National Development Plan (NDP), National Adaptation Plan (NAP), Adaptation Communication and revising its National Development Strategy (NDS). The revision of NDC allowed the country to take cognizance of the recent findings on the gaps and needs related to global climate action. Analysis of the first NDCs submitted to the UNFCCC by the parties suggests that though ambitious, the global efforts would fall well short of the goals of the Paris Agreement to keep the temperature increase well below 2C.
The enhanced and more ambitious NDC of Eswatini represents a progression beyond the 2015 NDC by adopting an economy wide GHG emissions reduction target of 5% by 2030 compared to the baseline scenario3 and help achieve a low carbon and climate resilient development. This economy wide emission reduction can increase to 14% with external financing and this translates to 1.04 million tonnes fewer GHG emissions in 2030 compared to a baseline scenario.
Eswatini has achieved significant progress in overall socio-economic development which is visible through economic growth, improvements in health, educational outcomes, greater access to energy, and, improvement in water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) including associated infrastructure. However, climate change impacts felt by communities and ecosystems are reversing the development gains achieved till now. There is an urgency to act now as evidenced by AR6 IPCC report.