As countries prepare their updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for submission ahead of this year’s UN climate change conference (COP30), there is growing recognition that effective climate action requires strong collaboration between national and subnational governments.

Only about a quarter of national climate plans published before July 2023 explicitly acknowledge and address urban priorities and solutions. This signals that the potential of urban development, consumption and production patterns to positively impact national climate transitions is not being adequately utilized.

Colombia, Kenya, and Rwanda — three countries which have endorsed the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) pledge to incorporate strong subnational content in their NDCs — have implemented unique strategies to strengthen local involvement, build capacity and align national climate goals with local priorities. With support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities partnered with Colombia, Kenya and Rwanda to design, deliver and document the consultations.

Each country took different approaches to their NDC consultations with subnational governments to identify local priorities to be integrated into their NDC. Below, we explore Colombia, Kenya and Rwanda’s varied approaches and highlight best practices and lessons learned for other nations looking to follow suit.

Colombia

Expected to launch its updated NDC in mid-2025, Colombia remains focused on strengthening climate resilience and meeting its existing 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target and net-zero target by 2050. Priorities for this NDC include aligning short-term action with the country’s long-term strategy (“E2050”) and incorporating aspects of a just transition, including equity, inclusion and peace.

In 2024, with support from WRI and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development held a series of in-person workshops across Colombia to identify practical approaches to implementing local climate action and supporting the development of Colombia’s next NDC. Participants – including representatives from subnational and regional governments, business and civil society – co-developed implementation plans for potential climate actions that could be adopted by subnational governments. Additionally, participants helped to identify roles and responsibilities, finance mechanisms and pathways for integration with local planning instruments.

From these workshops, we found that Colombia’s subnational governments require more technical support to identify new opportunities for climate action, develop comprehensive implementation plans aligned with local development priorities and national climate goals, and secure the finance required for implementation. Many small- and medium-sized cities lack access to the resources and expertise needed to identify climate solutions, develop implementation plans, assess costs, and establish financing routes and partnerships.

However, Colombia’s efforts to include subnational governments in the NDC development process does not end with this workshop series; the Ministry of Environment continues to host regular virtual meetings to further engage subnational governments in the NDC development process and its future implementation.

Kenya

Kenya is using its third generation NDC (2025-2031) as a tool to mobilize resources for climate action across all levels of government. As part of their NDC development process, Kenya’s Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry (MECCF) and Ministry of Finance recognized the need to help county governments consolidate their climate priorities and develop them into investable projects that can be reflected in their updated NDC.

To do this, Kenya’s MECCF and Ministry of Finance teamed up to integrate best practices from the Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) Program into Kenya’s updated NDC. A joint initiative between both ministries and the World Bank, the FLLoCA Program supports 45 counties to develop community-led climate change risk assessments and identify local climate priorities. Kenya’s Ministry of finance leads the FLLoCA Program with support from the MECCF, while the MECCF leads the NDC development process and online engagements with county governments with support from the Ministry of Finance.

Prior to engaging counties in the NDC development process, Kenya’s MECCF and Ministry of Finance used the FLLoCA Program’s approach and learnings to perform an extensive document review and consultation process that would allow Kenya’s national government to better understand counties’ climate priorities, challenges and opportunities. With this knowledge in hand, Kenya then hosted a series of virtual meetings to present the current NDC draft to subnational actors, highlighting how climate priorities identified by the FLLoCA Program are integrated and soliciting additional feedback.

This approach utilized pre-existing knowledge, programs and partnerships to integrate subnational climate priorities into their updated NDC, saving valuable time and resources for Kenya’s national and subnational governments. However, some costs cannot be avoided. Access to reliable internet in Kenya is expensive. As such, WRI and other CHAMP partners covered the costs of data allowances for subnational participants to ensure their active participation in the virtual meetings.

Rwanda

Rwanda’s new NDC aims to support the implementation of their revised National Strategy for Climate Change and Low-Carbon Development and their Vision 2050.

In the lead up to its submission, the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) and Ministry of Environment convened development partners to reflect on the previous NDC development process. Held in May 2024, this discussion highlighted the strength of the current NDC’s detailed mitigation scenario modelling. But it also highlighted a lack of consultation with wider stakeholders (specifically local government, civil society and the private sector) and a limited understanding of subnational governments’ role in implementation. Participants widely agreed that securing stakeholder buy-in and collaboratively developing implementation plans should be the top priority as the country prepares its updated NDC.

After this initial discussion, REMA and the Ministry of Environment held a series of meetings with development partners between May and August 2024 to devise a plan to engage a diverse range of stakeholders as part of Rwanda’s NDC development process. During these meetings, it was agreed that WRI would provide support to subnational engagements while the NDC Partnership would provide support for civil society engagements.

To prepare for consultations with subnational governments, REMA, the Ministry of Finance and WRI experts first reviewed relevant policy documents. Following this review, Rwanda held a five-day in-person workshop in November 2024 with district-level Directors of Planning and Directors of Environment and Agriculture from across the country. The workshop aimed to 1) raise awareness around the whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to developing and implementing their next NDC; 2) build capacity of subnational officials to better understand the causes and impacts associated with climate change and develop local solutions that better align with national goals; and 3) identify, map and consolidate local and regional priorities.

Post-workshop, a report was circulated with participants in preparation for the upcoming validation workshop to confirm local priorities for inclusion in the NDC. Circulation of the report prior to the validation workshop allowed participants time to reflect on the content and identify gaps.

Held a week after the five-day workshop, the validation workshop emphasized the importance of political buy-in to support local climate implementation. As such, WRI and ICLEI Africa supported REMA, Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment and the Rwandan Local Government Association to convene a policy dialogue with Vice-Mayors in March 2025. The policy dialogue was held in the national language, Kinyarwanda, which Vice-Mayors appreciated. However, this also emphasized the need to translate the NDC, which is written in English, into Kinyarwanda to make it more accessible to the wider public.

A critical aspect in strengthening Rwanda’s 2025 NDC process was the deliberate reflection on the successes and shortcomings of the previous NDC cycle. By acknowledging the limited involvement of subnational governments, civil society and the private sector in the past, Rwanda was able to prioritize inclusive consultations and capacity-building efforts in the new NDC process.

Rwanda also recognized that subnational governments required a foundational understanding of climate change and the NDC process in order to meaningfully participate in the NDC development process. Though capacity-building sessions are a big up-front time investment, subnational governments will ultimately be better equipped to support and implement actions outlined in the updated NDC.

Including Subnational Governments in NDC Development Can Lead to More Ambitious and Effective NDCs

From the three country approaches, two common threads emerged:

First, designing consultations in a manner which allows for meaningful engagement is critical. In Colombia, this was addressed by hosting several meetings that allowed for diverse contexts to be considered. In Kenya, providing stipends for data helped to support the participation of counties with limited access to data and in Rwanda, capacity building and discussions in the native language helped to build trust and unpack the complexities of climate change in a way that resonated with local realities. Meaningful engagement with cities, states and regions can lead to more ambitious and effective NDCs because it enables national governments to consider the not only the current but also the potential contributions of subnational governments in their adaptation and mitigation target setting. Additionally, these engagements enable national governments to include investable projects from all levels of government and identify further opportunities that can be unlocked through multilevel collaboration.

Second, there is a need for ongoing collaboration across levels of government. Integrating subnational priorities into the NDC is only the beginning; Multilevel collaboration between NDC cycles is critical to support subnational governments to build capacity, develop implementation plans, access finance, mainstream local priorities into sectoral plans (across all levels of government), and monitor and report on progress. Colombia established the Strategic Cities and Climate Change Committee to guide continued NDC consultations with subnational governments and support multilevel collaboration in implementing the NDC. Kenya, building on the success of the FLLoCA Program, seeks to develop a climate finance accelerator geared towards improving subnational access to finance. And Rwanda’s Ministry of Local Government will establish NDC implementation units at the district level to support effective implementation and reporting (a priority that emerged during the policy dialogue).

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As COP30 approaches and updated NDCs are due, countries are encouraged to include the goals, actions and needs of cities, states and regions in their NDCs. This may take the form of a section dedicated to subnational governments or be embedded throughout the NDC. This content should be co-developed through consultation with subnational governments. Consultations can take various forms depending on the goals and resources available, as shown by the examples from Colombia, Kenya and Rwanda. By including cities, states and regions in NDC development, countries can develop more ambitious and credible commitments that are grounded in local realities and have greater levels of support from those public authorities engaged in implementing action on the ground.

Beyond the NDC development process, WRI will continue to support countries to implement climate action at scale through multilevel partnerships. In Colombia, WRI is working with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to support a cohort of cities to accelerate climate action implementation, aligned with national commitments. In Kenya and Rwanda, WRI is supporting a range of NDC priority actions relating to air quality, energy, water, food and forests.

Nadia Shah Naidoo is Senior Integrated Climate Action Associate for WRI Africa’s Cities program.

Max Jamieson is Global Lead for Integrated Climate Action for WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

Michael Doust is Urban Efficiency & Climate Director for WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

Carolina Useche is Director of the Climate, Economics & Finance program at WRI Colombia.

Ivy Murgor is Air Quality Program Manager for WRI Africa.

Marc Manyifika is Urban Resilience Lead for WRI Africa’s Cities program.