Online Reporter
Ivan Zhakata-Herald Correspondent
ZIMBABWE is poised to unlock increased finance, strengthen resilience to climate change and accelerate its transition to a low-carbon economy following the completion of its third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), which will steer the country’s green agenda from 2026 to 2035.
The draft climate blueprint entered its final validation stage yesterday after the Government brought together ministries, development partners, the private sector, academia, civil society organisations and the media to review and endorse the document before its submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN-FCCC).
In a speech read on his behalf by the Chief Director in the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Mr Washington Zhakata, Permanent Secretary Mr Simon Masanga said the completion of the validation process marked a significant milestone in Zimbabwe’s climate action journey.
“I am pleased to note that the document received successful technical sign-off at that stage, and it is that technically validated draft which is now before you today,” said Mr Masanga.
He said the document will serve as Zimbabwe’s roadmap for climate mitigation and adaptation between 2026 and 2035 while strengthening the country’s contribution to global efforts to combat climate change.
Mr Masanga said Zimbabwe has progressively increased its climate ambition since submitting its first Nationally Determined Contribution, raising its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target from 33 per cent to 40 per cent by 2030 through expanded mitigation measures in the forestry, waste and industrial sectors.
“The logical and necessary next step is to operationalise those guiding instruments while simultaneously raising our ambition for the next generation of our Nationally Determined Contribution.”
He said the draft NDC 3.0 was developed through extensive stakeholder consultations, sectoral implementation assessments, emissions modelling and technical reviews to ensure it reflects national priorities and international obligations under the Paris Agreement. Mr Masanga said the validation process was critical in ensuring national ownership of the document.
“A document validated only among Government technical structures, however sound, cannot yet claim to be a nationally owned instrument. Today’s workshop is, therefore, both a technical checkpoint and a political and social legitimisation process through which Zimbabwe’s third-generation Nationally Determined Contribution will be formally endorsed as a document that belongs to us all.”
