Skopje, 19 April 2021 – The Republic of North Macedonia commits to an 82% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 compared to 1990. The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning presented its second national climate pledge to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), marking its renewed commitment to the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement where world leaders universally agreed to advance climate actions to limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to limit to a safer 1.5 degrees.

Under that agreement, countries agreed to develop climate pledges - also known as ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ or ’NDCs’ - that taken together will help tackle global warming. The agreement also calls on countries to revise and strengthen their NDCs every five years. However, it is increasingly apparent that urgent steps must be taken to reverse current unsustainable trends, leading to high expectations for governments to commit to ambitious pledges that leave no-one behind.

Some key components from North Macedonia’s new pledge include:

• 63 policies and measures pave the way for an ambitious, economy-wide commitment, making a strong economic case for a decarbonization as a cheaper alternative to the country's current policy pathway.
• Greening the economy is projected to created almost 8,000 new jobs by 2030, at least 27 per cent of which could be filled by women.
• The role of the private sector is highlighted as it participates with 85 per cent of the total investments needed for the implementation of policies and measures planned for the industrail sector.
• The shift to circular economic models can deliver annual savings of 951 Gg CO2-eq, create 2,740 new jobs andgenerate 47.17 million euros in the economy by 2030. This is sufficient to counterbalance the emissions from solid waste disposal, industrial processes and the product use sectors.
• More gender-responsive policies with the introduction of gender indictors.
• The quantification of SDGs & enhanced NDC synergies and trade-offs show that the highest synergies are almost three times stronger than the highest trade-offs
• Use of an innovative virtual youth consultation approach to ensure that the voices of young people are expressed in the NDC.

“The Republic of North Macedonia put forward a really bold climate target in its enhanced NDC by promoting a coordinated and coherent response to climate change across government and society. There is a clear, profitable opportunity to achieve the GHG reductions which are central to the Enhanced NDC, enabling the country to mobilize significant capital way beyond its national budget,” said Naser Nuredini, Minister of Environment and Physical Planning.

Narine Sahakyan, UNDP's Resident Representative in the country added that “Enabling a green recovery from the pandemic through ambitious NDCs is central to UNDP’s Climate Promise. Smart stimulus responses support a win-win approach to energy transition, proving that it is  possible to revive the economy while reducing greenhoue gas emissions.”

UNDP supported North Macedonia’s new climate pledge through the Climate Promise initiative. UNDP’s Climate Promise aims to support global, transformational climate action by supporting countries to enhance their NDCs in 2021 and beyond. The initiative is being delivered in over 118 countries – making it the world’s largest support offer of this kind. UNDP’s Climate Promise is supported by Germany, Sweden, EU, Italy, Spain and other core contributors.

Click here to read North Macedonia’s enhanced NDC in full.

For more information on the Climate Promise, please visit https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/climatepromise.html